A Team Effort
by Bobisnotmyrealname
Summary: Sam and Dean are investigating an unusual haunting in Cleveland when they meet an extremely strong blonde and a powerful wicca. A team-up may be necessary to defeat the rising evil
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This story takes place during Season 10 of Supernatural, and about 3 years after Season 7 of Buffy. Please note that Cass is at full strength in this story and is searching for a way to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean's arm.

 **Chapter 1 – Skull and Bones**

The Impala was cruising along the dark highway. It was close to midnight and Sam was asleep in passenger seat. Absentmindedly, Dean scratched at the Mark of Cain on his right arm. They passed a sign saying that they were 2 miles from Cleveland. Reaching over, he smacked his brother in the chest, "Rise and shine, Sammy!"

Inhaling suddenly, Sam woke up and shook his head. "What time is it?" he asked.

Looking at the clock on the dashboard, Dean said, "11:45. We should be in Cleveland shortly. So, what's the deal with this case?"

Rubbing his eyes, Sam said, "let's find a motel first, then we can go through it."

"Awesome," Dean said. A few minutes later they had found a shabby looking motel, The Route 71 Inn. They checked into room 314 and settled in a bit before they sat down at the table to review the case.

"Ok, so the story goes that a local haunted house, which has been abandoned for years, was broken into last week. Not unusual for a supposedly haunted house; however, the police said that over 10 graves were discovered dug up in the basement," Sam said reading from the news article from his laptop. "The police said they were surprised to find the graves, as there had been no record of violence or missing persons in the house while it was still occupied. However, the last owners moved out because of visions they claimed to see of several young children running about the basement. The police are now investigating the house as a possible homicide site, including possibly the dumping ground for a serial killer."

"Over 10 graves and no one ever noticed it before?" Dean asked.

"Supposedly, the basement wasn't a dirt basement, but cement. The floor had been broken up 'as though by a jackhammer.' Whoever did it knew those bodies were down there," Sam replied.

"What happened to the graves? Were the bodies stolen? Eaten? What?" Dean asked.

"According to this, the graves were all of children between the ages of 5 and 10, based on the size of the skeletons; however, all the skulls were missing, making it impossible to use dental records for identification. It says that the skeletons were all at least 30 years old, so the police are searching through missing children reports from the 80's and earlier," Sam continued to read.

"Does it say when the cement floor was put in, or anything about last owners of the house?"

"No, and only that they said the house was haunted. Supposedly, teenagers have been breaking into the house to party for almost 20 years. There have been reports throughout the years of the sound of crying children and visions of children running around the basement, though," Sam looked up at Dean.

"Who wrote this article?" asked Dean, "it's strangely OK with reporting info about a haunted house. Usually the media shy away from that kind of info."

"The Cleveland Ledger," Sam answered, reading the name off the website.

"Huh, weird. OK, so it sounds like we've got murdered kids haunting a house, and someone who knew they were there stealing skulls. Are we hunting the ghosts or the thing that took the skulls?" Dean inquired.

"Both?" Sam suggested.

"Well, if we're going to go after the kids, we'll need to find those skulls first," Dean said.

"Very true. OK, tomorrow we go to the police station and find out what leads, if any, they have," Sam said. Then he yawned, "In the meantime, let's get some sleep."

Dean nodded, stood up, walked to his bed and collapsed on it still fully dressed, his feet hanging off the edge.

The next morning, Sam woke up to find Dean already up and dressed in his faux FBI suit. He was checking his gun to make sure it was clean and fully armed. Sam got up and went into the bathroom and quickly showered. The water was cold and there was little water pressure. Missing the bunker, he dried himself off and brushed his teeth. He yawned again and decided that they were definitely stopping for coffee on the way to the police station.

Walking back into the room with a towel wrapped around him, he grabbed his own suit and quickly changed. Dean was no longer in the room; Sam figured he was probably checking on his baby to make sure nothing happened to it during the night. As Sam was putting the suit jacket on, Dean came back in the room with two coffees in his hands. He handed one to Sam, who profusely thanked him.

"You usually beat me in getting up, so I figured you were probably tired and needed it," Dean said smiling.

"You feeling OK?" Sam asked unsure.

"Yea, Sammy, why wouldn't I?" Dean said.

Eyeing him suspiciously, Sam didn't answer him. They left the room, making sure to hang the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. They climbed into the Impala and it roared to life as Dean started it up. Grateful, but still suspicious, Sam drank his coffee in silence. It wasn't very good. Dean turned on the radio to find Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" playing. Turning up the volume, he started singing along. Sam watched him, amused.

About 15 minutes later they were pulling into the police station. They walked into the building and up to the man at the front desk, who looked much too young to be a cop.

"Hi, can I help you?" he asked, his voice cracking a little.

"How old are you?" Dean asked bluntly.

Sam cleared his throat pointedly and pulled out his FBI badge, "Hi, I'm Special Agent Johnson, my rude partner here is Special Agent Young. We were hoping to speak to someone about the McDyllan House case."

The man eyed Dean before answering Sam, "Sure, agents. Detective Bryant is heading up that case, I'll call him." He picked up the phone and dialed an extension.

"Hey Dave, there are two FBI agents here that want to talk to you about that haunted house break-in," he said. He hung up the phone and looked at Sam again, "He'll be right up." Sam nodded his head in thanks and stepped away from the desk to wait. Dean followed him.

A minute later, a short, mustached man walked into the room looking around. Spotting Sam and Dean, he walked up to them and held out a hand, "Hi, I'm Detective David Bryant. Are you the FBI agents asking about the McDyllan House case?"

They nodded their heads and pulled out their badges, "I'm Special Agent Johnson, this is Special Agent Young," Sam said again. "We have a few questions for you about the case."

"Of course, come on in," Detective Bryant said turning and leading them further into the precinct. "I've gotta say," he said as they walked, "this is one of the strangest cases I've ever seen, and Cleveland is a pretty strange town."

"Really?" Dean asked.

"Oh yea, weird stuff in this town, but finding a graveyard of 30 year old children's bones in a basement all missing heads, that's a first for me. I'm guessing you're here because of the possible serial killer aspect?" he asked.

"Yes," said Dean, "something like this comes up on the wire, and the boss sends us right out here." Bryant nodded his head and led them into a small office. He walked up to a filing cabinet, opened the top drawer and began shifting through the files.

"Ah, here we are," he said pulling one out. "The Edwin McDyllan House. Originally built by Edwin McDyllan in 1908. It's had a slew of owners over the years. The house was usually occupied by small families, occasionally empty if someone was moving and couldn't sell it for whatever reason. Nothing out of the ordinary about it, which it why it was so strange to find such a thing inside. The last owners moved out in 1993, claiming the house was haunted. We looked into all the owners of the house, none of them were ever suspected of anything. However, from 1975 to 1983, the house was unoccupied. The previous owner fell behind on his payments and the bank foreclosed on him. It fell into disrepair during that time, until a carpenter bought the house in 1983 for next to nothing and flipped the place. He moved in shortly after, selling it again in 1991, when the Skeete family bought it. And as I said, they moved out two years later claiming it was haunted. They sold it to a rich Chinese couple who claimed they would be moving in after purchasing a local company. However, their company went bankrupt before they ever even moved to the states, and the house has sat empty ever since, they still technically own it. We think that whatever happened to those children, it probably happened during that 1975-1983 time period when it was empty based on the age of the skeletons. We think we've identified 3 of the 12 children so far based on DNA donated by family members of missing local children."

He handed the file to Dean who began scanning through the reports.

"Do you know how the children died?" Sam asked.

"Unfortunately, no. There is nothing on their bodies to indicate how the died, but the lab is still running some tests. We're guessing that whatever it was, it was probably a head injury, which might have been why the skulls were removed," Bryant said, shuddering slightly

"But why after all this time? Are you sure that the skulls were removed during the break-in and not at the time of the murders?" Dean asked.

"That's a valid question, to which I can't give you a sure answer. But we think they were probably removed after the break-in," he said.

"Why do you say that?" Dean pressed him.

"Well, because of how the necks looked. If they had been removed at the time of death, there would have had to be a cut through the spine, right? But these look like they were just pulled apart. Does that make sense?" Bryant said cautiously.

Dean and Sam both nodded.

"Do you have any other questions?" he asked them.

Dean held up the file and said, "Could we get a copy of this?"

"Of course," Bryant said and he took it back to make copies.

As they were walking out of the police station, Dean looked at Sam, "What do you think?"

"My guess? Either a serial killer coming back for trophies, a witch looking for spell ingredients, or some monster that eats children's heads," Sam said noncommittally.

"So the usual then," Dean said. Sam nodded as they got back into the Impala.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – "WTF is a Slayer?"**

As night began to fall, Sam and Dean were headed toward the McDyllan house. They parked in the driveway and walked up the front porch, which was covered in graffiti. Sam picked the padlock that held the door closed and they stepped under the "crime scene – do not pass" tape to enter the house. It looked fairly normal for a 20 year old abandoned house. There was no furniture as the last family had moved out completely when they left. More graffiti covered the walls, and there were cigarette butts and broken bottles on the floor. They entered the kitchen to more of the same. The refrigerator door had been broken off, probably a long time ago, and was lying on the floor. Scorch marks in the corner suggested that someone had started a small fire there some time ago. They found the door to the basement, and Dean pulled out his EMF, turning it on. Immediately it began to buzz and light up.

"Definitely something here," he said.

They walked down the stairs to the basement, which was large and empty as far as they could tell. A couple rooms were on their right. In the middle of the floor were several broken slabs of concrete, and what were clearly, shallow, unburied graves beneath them. The police had already removed the bodies from the graves, but the EMF was humming. Suddenly, Dean froze staring at one of the doors to the next room. He thought he heard something coming from inside. Turning to Sam and silently motioning to him that they needed to check it out, they both pulled out their guns and cautiously approached the open door. Signaling a count of three, they counted and then Dean entered the room closely followed by Sam.

A small figure sprang out from behind the door and tackled Dean. Sam was thrown by an invisible force into a wall and was unable to move. He watched as Dean wrestled with a small blonde girl who could clearly hold her own. Looking around him, he saw another small girl with red hair holding up a hand to him, holding him in place. Changing her attention to the couple fighting on the floor, the red-head held up her other hand separating the two, and forcing Dean against another wall.

The blonde stood up and brushed the dust off her pants, her ponytail swinging behind her.

"Thanks, Will," she said. The red-head nodded.

"Now who do we have here?" she asked, approaching Dean. She pulled a small flask out of her back pocked and threw water into Dean's face, who closed his eyes and spit out the water that had gone into his mouth.

Surprised, she asked Dean, "Not a demon or vampire, huh?"

"Look who's talking," Dean said, nodding at the red-head.

"Excuse me? Wicca, not demon or vampire," she said to him.

"Oh, awesome. Witches, man. Why is it always witches?" Dean said to Sam.

"And what about you?" the blonde asked them.

"People who kill witches," Dean said roughly.

"People, huh? We'll see about that. Also, I'm not a witch," said the blonde.

"Whatever," Dean growled, "either way, we'll be killing you evil bitches."

"Evil?" she asked. "Hardly, but regardless, you're not really in a position to be killing us."

"Buffy, hold on," the girl named Will said. They all looked at her. "I don't sense evil from them. Well, some serious rage from this one," she amended, nodding toward Dean, "and major identity issues from this one," she added, indicating Sam.

"Hey!" Sam said, offended.

The blonde named Buffy looked at Will unsure. "You think they're OK? You wanna let them go?" she asked.

"Yea, I think it'll be OK. They don't trust us at all though; I'll take their weapons just to be sure. But I am certain that they're human," Will said. She waved a hand and Sam's gun flew out of his hand and into a corner. Another wave, and Dean's gun, which had been knocked onto the floor during his fight with Buffy joined it. She continued to wave at Dean until she had removed several knives and another gun from various places in his clothes. Lowering her hands, Sam and Dean slid down the walls and landed on their feet on the floor.

"Now who are you?" Buffy asked them.

Dean didn't answer her, Sam, however, said, "I'm Sam, this is my brother Dean."

"Hunters?" Will asked.

They nodded. "WTF is a hunter?" Buffy asked, sounding confused.

Will laughed, which caused Buffy to scowl. Her laugh was pleasant and friendly. Sam relaxed a bit when he heard it. "They're humans who hunt monsters, demons, etc."

"Like Robin?" Buffy asked.

"Exactly," Will said.

Will turned to Sam and Dean, "I'm Willow. This is Buffy." Buffy eyed them, still suspicious, but nodded in acknowledgment.

"This isn't a safe business for normal humans," Buffy said, scornfully.

"Look who's talking, princess," Dean said.

"Excuse me, but I'm the Slayer and I could wipe the floor with both of you," Buffy said, stepping up to Dean. It would have been impressive if she didn't have to look up to look into his face. He had almost a foot on her.

"Wait, seriously?" Sam said.

"What the hell is a Slayer?" Dean asked

"I always thought she was a myth. She's like a human with super strength, specifically chosen to fight vampires, demons, and such. Supposedly there's only ever one in the world, usually called the 'Chosen One,'" Sam explained.

"Well that about sums it up, minus the 'only one in the world.' That used to be true, not so much anymore," Willow said.

"What do you mean?" asked Sam curiously.

"Can we talk about this later, please?" Buffy asked them. "We have a demon stealing children's skulls here and I would like to take it down before Christmas."

"Do you know what it is?" Sam asked.

"No. We think it's probably part of some dark mojo, though. Maybe a demon summoning spell, maybe a sacrificial ritual of some kind. Not sure yet. We've got some people looking into it," Willow said.

Buffy walked back into the main part of the basement and looked into the graves. "Will, I don't think we're going to find anything more here. The cops took everything."

"Yea, and apart from the spirits of those children, I'm not sensing much here. I think it's time to go into research mode," Willow agreed.

Sam and Dean followed them back into the basement. Willow turned to them, "Why don't you come back to our place? We can pool our resources and work on this together if that works for you? It's easier than us working it separately and regularly getting into each other's way."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Buffy said.

"Yea, I don't think so," Dean said, silently hating himself for agreeing with Buffy. There was no way he was working with this girl.

Willow and Sam both rolled their eyes, noticed each other and grinned. Willow said, "Come on. Let's go back to our place, we can compare notes, and if you still don't want anything to do with each other, we'll go our own ways from there. Deal?"

Sam looked inquiringly at Dean, making it clear that he agreed with Willow.

"Fine," said Dean and Buffy together. Buffy turned and walked back up the stairs to the main part of the house, Willow following her.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Dean said to Sam as they started up the stairs too.

"Grow a pair, Han," Sam replied, grinning.

When they were all back in the kitchen, Willow said, "Would you guys mind giving us a ride? Neither of us really drives."

"How did you get here then?" Sam asked.

"Flew," Willow shrugged. "Buffy weighs next to nothing, but I don't think I can carry all three of you."

"You can fly?" Sam asked excitedly, staring at the red-head.

Momentarily forgetting his anger, Dean said, "That's freaking awesome." Willow smiled at them. Buffy wasn't smiling.

"Yea, sure. Our car is right outside," Sam said. He turned and led them back out of the house.

Seeing their car, Buffy scoffed and said quietly for Willow, "compensating for something much? This looks like something Giles would have driven in his Ripper days." Chuckling, Willow got into the back seat with Buffy. Dean turned on the car, and pulled out onto the street. "Born to be Wild" came on the radio as they were driving; Dean turned it up and started playing the drums on the steering wheel.

"Can you turn that down?" Buffy yelled from the back. Dean responded by turning it up louder. The only thing that stopped Buffy from hitting him for this was the fact that he was driving and she didn't particularly feel like crashing. Instead, Willow reached a hand out and turned the volume down herself without actually touching the radio.

"Hey!" Dean said.

"Thanks, Will," Buffy said relieved.

"That's totally cheating!" Dean growled. Sam started laughing. Sam and Willow clearly found the whole situation highly amusing.

They drove on without saying much else, Dean not trying to turn the radio back up. Willow directed them to the house in which they were staying. As they got out of the car, Dean looked at the house, thinking it was pretty big for just a couple of girls. How could a couple girls, probably with no real income due to their jobs afford a place like this?

Buffy led the way into the house and both Dean and Sam gasped as they walked in. The place was elegant, and there were probably a dozen people, almost all girls or young women, hanging out in what appeared to be a large study to their left. Several of them were curled into arm chairs reading from large, leather bound books. A few others were on laptops.

"What is this place?" Sam asked, mouth hanging open.

"It used to be the US headquarters for the Watcher's Council, but since they aren't really around anymore, we borrowed the place. Seemed like a good fit," Willow said.

"And who are all these people?" Sam asked.

"Slayers, mostly. Some friends and an expert or two," Buffy answered.

"Slayers? I thought there was only one at any given time," Sam said.

"As I said back in the house, not the case anymore, thanks to Willow here," Buffy said proudly. Sam continued to look around impressed as they walked toward the back of the house. He couldn't stop himself from being reminded of the bunker with all the books on the walls. He wondered if that is what the Men of Letter's facilities looked like when it still had a lot of members. Except, of course, that probably would have been all men instead of women.

Buffy ushered them into what appeared to be an office, in which a few people were sitting. There was an older man and a younger man sitting at a table surrounded by papers, a girl on a laptop at the desk, and another man with an eye patch sitting in a chair in the corner reading a large book. They all looked up as the group walked in. The man in the corner reading the book and the young man at the table both stood up looking suspicious. The older man looked confused but interested. The girl was looking at Dean with a lot of interest.

"And who do we have here?" the older man asked.

"Giles, this is Sam and Dean," Willow said pointing. "They're hunters we met at the McDyllan House. Guys, this is Giles." Then she indicated the younger man at the table, "That's Andrew." Pointing at the man in the corner, she said "The pirate is Xander." Xander scowled at Willow. Finally, indicating the girl, she said, "and this is Dawn, Buffy's sister."

"Hunters, huh?" Giles said interestedly. "Here because of the missing skulls?"

"Yea, that and the ghosts of those kids. Thought we might try to put them to rest after we take care of whatever took their skulls," Sam explained.

Giles nodded. "Well, you're welcome to help us out here; we've been doing a lot of research about the house and about what rituals or spells might call for multiple children's heads. Of course, there is always the possibility that it was just some mad serial killer collecting trophies."

Sam and Dean both nodded. Sam said, "I've got the police report and investigation notes right here. That has all the history of the house in it."

"Really? Excellent. That's gunna save us a buttload of time," Xander said, seeming to drop his suspicion of the brothers.

"But I was halfway through that research," the man named Andrew whined.

"Well, now you're done," Xander said. Andrew sat back down and pouted. _How old is this kid?_ thought Dean.

Buffy walked over to her sister and put a hand on her shoulder, "Dawnie, have you had dinner? Why don't we take a break and get some food?"

Nodding her head, she looked excitedly at Dean, "You must be hungry too. Why don't you join us?"

"Oh, no, Dawnie, I don't think they'd want…" Buffy started, but Dean cut across her.

"That sounds awesome. You got any pie?" he asked Dawn.

"Actually, yes!" Dawn said. "When you've got a houseful of girls all on their periods, you find the need for deserts to always be on hand." Buffy and Willow chuckled. Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them with a handkerchief.

Andrew said, "Ew!" Sam and Dean looked awkwardly at each other but followed Dawn out of the room, closely followed by Buffy who was determined to keep an eye on the two men.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Meet Celeste, Charlie, and Vi**

Sitting at the kitchen table, Dean was enjoying a large slice of apple pie. Dawn had made sandwiches for the rest of them with some help from Sam. When they were halfway through dinner, Giles came down to join them. Dawn was (not) subtly trying to get Dean to tell her if he had a girlfriend.

"My job keeps me pretty busy, don't really have time or life security for a relationship," he said.

"Life security?" Dawn asked confused.

"Yea, people in my line of work tend to die young, and I've died too many times for me to think that I'll live forever," Dean said. Sam chuckled, but looked slightly uncomfortable.

"You've died?" Dawn asked.

"Couple of times, we both have, right Sammy? Been to heaven, hell, purgatory, you name it." Dean said smacking Sam on the back.

"Wow, Buffy! He's just like you!" Dawn said. Buffy scowled but said nothing. Dawn turned back to Dean, "She's died a couple times too. Went to hell once. Spent a good amount in time in heaven. But I didn't even know purgatory was real."

"I've never heard of a human going to purgatory, and I've certainly never heard of anything that came back from it," Giles said interested.

"You've been to heaven and hell too? I thought we were the only assholes to jump around like that." Sam asked Buffy, surprised. "How did you come back?"

"How did you?" Buffy retorted.

"An angel named Castiel helps us out a lot. Brought us back from the dead a couple of times," Sam said. Suddenly, a man in a trench coat appeared out of nowhere.

"What's wrong?" he said in a deep urgent voice. He looked around to see the many people looking back at him. Buffy and Dawn both jumped up at his appearance.

"No, Cass, we weren't calling for help. We were just explaining that you help us a lot," Dean said.

"Who the hell are you?" Buffy asked quickly.

"This is the angel, Castiel I was talking about," said Sam trying not to laugh.

"Angels are real?" Dawn asked.

"Of course we're real. Sam, why did you call me if you didn't need my help?" Castiel asked him.

"I said 'Castiel helps us out a lot,' not 'Castiel, help us out.'" Sam explained.

"Well, human semantics can get confusing sometimes," Castiel said.

At that moment, Andrew walked into the room, "Whoa! Hello! Who's this new man to join our ranks. I'm Andrew." He held out his hand to Cass.

Cass slowly lifted his hand and grasped Andrew's. "Castiel, and it appears that I'm not actually needed here. But since I'm here, Dean, I think I might have found a way to remove the mark of Cain. Metatron may not have been lying after all. I'll keep you informed of my progress in my search." And just as suddenly as he appeared, Cass vanished.

"What the banana?!" shrieked Andrew, still staring at the spot where Castiel had been standing.

"Looks like you've got friends in high places," said Giles impressed. Sam and Dean both shrugged.

"Eh, angels, demons, hunters, Men of Letters. Just all part of the joys of being a Winchester, eh Sammy?" Dean said to Sam. Sam laughed again.

"Winchester?" Giles asked. "As in John Winchester, the hunter?" Sam and Dean both looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"Yea," Dean said slowly, "he was our father."

"Wait, so you're Sam and Dean Winchester? _The_ Sam and Dean Winchester?" Giles asked amazed.

"Why do you always get listed first? I'm the oldest," Dean asked Sam, annoyed.

"Skill over age. Besides, it flows better," Sam said smoothly. Turning to Giles, he asked, "So you've heard us?"

"Well, anyone who's ever been in the business should have heard of you by now. All that business with Michael and Lucifer, and then the Leviathans. I heard you were involved in the fall of the Angels too?" Giles said. Sam and Dean both breathed heavy sighs.

Buffy said pointedly, "I've never heard of them."

Giles looked at her, eyebrows raised, but didn't answer her. Instead he turned to Dean, "Did you say the 'Men of Letters?' Are they still around? The Watcher's Council has been trying to contact them for over 50 years. We thought that they must have been eliminated somehow."

"Are you a member of the Watcher's council? I thought they were all killed," Sam replied.

"Um, excuse me, but what the hell are 'Men of Letters?'" Buffy asked, annoyed.

"And what is the Watcher's Council?" Dean added. Giles and Sam back and forth between the two of them.

"The Watcher's Council was the group tasked with guiding and instructing the Slayer. Almost all members were killed by the First Evil a few years ago. As far as I know, I'm the only one who survived." Giles explained to Dean and Sam. "But what about the Men of Letters? Do they still exist?"

"Not really," Sam answer him. "They were all wiped out by a Knight of Hell in the 50's. But our grandfather, who was a member, escaped, and traveled through time to find us and tell us what happened. We found the Men of Letter's facility after that and have, sort of, taken up the mantel in their place."

"Your lives are just as weird as ours," Buffy said, forgetting to be annoyed. Sam laughed as Dean had to stop himself from smiling at this comment.

"Maybe we can use the info from the Men's of Letter's collection to help find out what those children's skulls were stolen for," Sam suggested.

"That's a 15 hour drive," Dean protested. "I'm not driving that far when there is plenty of research material here."

"No need to drive, Charlie helped me put most of the collection on a server so we could access it remotely for situations like this. Unfortunately, she never got around to showing me how to access it," Sam said.

"So, let's give her a call. Maybe she can walk us through it," Dean said.

"Wonderful," Giles said. "The Men of Letter's had a collection even more all-inclusive than the Watcher's Council, supposedly. Definitely now, though, since the main headquarters in London was destroyed."

Dean nodded and pulled out his phone to call Charlie. He glanced at his arm and remembered the last time they met, and put his phone back in his pocket. "Why don't you call her?" he suggested to Sam.

Sam glanced at Dean's arm too, frowned and pulled out his own phone.

"Hey Charlie! Yea, yea, I'm good. Yup, he's good too. Listen, we need your help. We're in Cleveland and we need to access that server you set up for us. Oh really? That would be even better. Great! I'll text you the address. See you soon," Sam said and he hung up the phone. Dean looked inquiringly at Sam.

"Apparently, she just finished up her own job and is just north of Pittsburgh. She says she can head here right away and show us instead of trying to talk me through it on the phone. That is, of course," he paused and turned to Buffy and Giles, "if you don't mind one more red-head in the house."

Giles and Buffy both agreed and Sam sent Charlie the address of the house. While they waited, they continued their own research with what they had. When Willow found out that Sam and Dean had invited a supposed "genius" to the house to help with a computer server, she got annoyed. "I'm the computer-hacking genius/ginger around here! Why do we need a second one?" she protested. But Giles pointed out that Willow hadn't used a computer for much more than surfing the internet in years, as her focus was much more magic based now. "Well, I still know how to use one," she said bitterly.

They hadn't gotten much further in their research when the doorbell rang. Sam, Dean, Buffy, Willow, Giles, and Dawn all got up to answer it and meet Charlie. Sam opened the door and smiled at the familiar face looking up at him. "Nice digs!" she said as a greeting. He gave her a hug and moved aside to let Dean greet her. His smile faltered, and he looked at her guiltily.

"Oh, stop it!" she said laughing and pulled him in for a hug. The rest of the group waited patiently to meet the new face, as Dean and Sam were blocking her from view.

"Everybody, this is Charlie," Sam said as he stepped out of the way to introduce her. She held out a hand to Buffy until she saw her face.

"Buffy?!" Charlie said stunned. Buffy took a step back bumping into Willow, who was blinking blankly at Charlie. The group as a whole was staring at Charlie in shock.

"Do you guys know each other?" Sam asked uncertainly.

"Vi?" Willow finally said.

"Vi?" said Sam and Dean together, looking at each other and then at Charlie.

"Oops," said Charlie, backing up and turning as red as her hair.

"Umm, does someone want to explain what's going on here?" Dean asked.

"Uhh… Sorry guys, I gotta go," Charlie said quickly turning around, but Dean grabbed her arm and held her in place.

"Where the hell have you been all this time?" Buffy suddenly shouted, taking Dean and Sam by surprise. Charlie flinched as though she'd been hit. "We thought you'd died!"

Slowly, Charlie turned back around and faced Buffy, her cheeks still red. "Well, no, I'm not dead. Obviously. Got close a couple times. Went to Oz, you see, only just got back a few months ago." They continued to stare at her.

Sam said, "Why don't we talk inside?"

Buffy nodded and moved out of the doorway, allowing Dean, who still had a grip on Charlie's arm to steer her inside.

The group walked back to the office they had been researching in earlier. Xander and Andrew, who were already in the room, continuing their work, looked up as they entered. Xander looked at Charlie with a confused look of recognition, while Andrew sprang to his feet and pulled her into a tight hug.

"I knew you were alive! I kept telling them over and over that our little Vi would one day come home to us, just as Rory found his way back to Amy, you found your way back to us!" He released her, tears in his eyes.

"Wow," Dean and Buffy said together.

"Rory didn't really find his way back to Amy, he was placed there as an Auton to spy on Amy since she knew him so well," Charlie corrected him.

"Wow," Dean and Buffy said again.

"But how did you find her?" Andrew asked Buffy.

"We didn't. This is the 'Charlie' that the newbies invited here to help with the investigation…" Buffy said.

"What?" Xander said, startled.

"Yea, I would like to know exactly what is going on here?" Buffy said turning to Charlie.

They all were looking at her, waiting. She looked from face to face with a desperate look trying to find a way out of the situation she had found herself in. Finally, after looking away from Sam, who looked just as confused as the rest of them, she sighed.

"My real name is Celeste Middleton. Sam and Dean know me as Charlie Bradbury. Buffy and the Scoobies know me as Violet, or 'Vi,'" she began.

"Sorry," Dean interrupted, "'scoobies?'"

"That's what we've been calling ourselves for years. Me, Buffy, Giles, & Willow," Xander explained. "And me!" added Dawn bitterly. Dean raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. Privately, he was judging them wholeheartedly.

"Hey! What about me?" Andrew interjected. Everyone ignored him.

"That's enough," Giles said sternly to the group. "Please continue," he said to Charlie.

"Well, you all know bits of it. Basically, my parents were in a drunk driving hit-and-run when I was a kid. My dad didn't make it and my mom was on life support for the next 16 years. When I was a teen, I ran away and changed my name. Decided that I would have to be invaluable in order to survive, so I learned everything I could about computers. I got a job working for Dick Roman and that's where I met Sam and Dean. So they met me as Charlie, and I helped them take down Dick Roman and the Leviathans." She paused to take a breath.

"In the process, my arm got broken by an angry spirit. After that, I killed my Charlie persona off legally, and took off after saying goodbye to Sam and Dean. I drifted for a while after that. Became Queen of the Moondoor," she said.

"What?" Several people asked.

"Holy monkey, that was you?" Andrew said shocked. "I was a shadow Orc! I knew I recognized you the first time I saw you!"

"LARPing," she explained to Giles, Buffy, and Dawn who looked thoroughly confused. When this explanation didn't seem to make sense, she added "Live Action Role Playing. It's a game."

They nodded and she continued, "Well, that's where Sam and Dean showed up again. One of my clansmen had used real magic to mess with the game and make himself rise in ranks. He had bound a fairy to do his bidding. She was so amazing," she added with a dreamy look on her face. Willow was looking at her curiously now.

She shook the image of the fairy out of her head and went on, "Well, I had to disappear again thanks to these two idiots." Sam and Dean scowled at her. "Ok, ok, you saved my butt again, but I did have to disappear again. Well, after that, Damian Thornwood found me."

"Your watcher?" Giles asked. She nodded.

"What?" Sam asked surprised.

"I'm getting there," she said. "Well, Damian found me and informed me that I was a potential slayer and had to be trained for my inevitable calling. He was surprised that I already knew that this supernatural world existed. I think he appreciated that he didn't have to deal with my denial or panicking of it all, though."

"Wait a minute," Sam interrupted. "What's a 'potential slayer?'"

"Exactly what it sounds like," Buffy said. "It's a girl who has the potential to one day be called as the next slayer when the current slayer dies. She doesn't have any of the slayer's powers, but one day she might."

"But I thought you said that there was more than one slayer now?" Dean asked.

"There are, thousands of them," Charlie said. "Anyway, during my training, my watcher was attacked and killed. That's when Giles found me and brought me to Sunnydale. The First was hunting down the entire slayer line and all the watchers too. Giles, being one of the few watchers left thought it would be safest for me and the other potentials to train under the Slayer."

She spoke directly to Sam and Dean now as they didn't know this part of the story, "Well, long story short, Buffy found a slayer's weapon that we called the Scythe, and Willow harnessed the power of the Scythe and changed the Slayer story. There was no longer one slayer in the world. She made it so that every girl who ever had the potential to be a slayer, whether they were ever destined to be called or not, would become a slayer. We all got the power to be a slayer: the strength, the speed, the agility, all of it.

"Hold it," Sam said. "Are you telling us, that you are a slayer? And you never told us?"

Her cheeks turned red again and she hung her head in shame.

"Sorry Sam, I didn't know how to tell you. You were worried enough about me hunting as it was, I didn't want to make it any worse," she explained. Dean shook his head at her. "Well, after we all became slayers, we managed to destroy the First's army of uber-vamps, and Sunnydale was destroyed. We spent the next several months trying to find all the new slayers that had awoken all over the world. That's when you guys called me to help you with the computer in the Men of Letter's base and we fought that genie. After that, I decided not to go back to the scoobies, because I wanted to be on my own for a while."

"You should have at least called us and told us," Buffy said angrily.

"I was afraid you'd come find me and make me come back," she said ashamed.

"You're right, I would have," Buffy growled back.

"Well, I spent the next year or so hunting on my own, claiming to be a hunter instead of a slayer. Eventually, Sam and Dean reached out to me again, and we discovered that the story behind The Wizard of Oz was true. Except that Dorothy was a hunter, and the wizard was the evil twin of a man of letters."

"Ok, now you're just making stuff up," Xander said.

"'fraid not," Dean said. "That part we can confirm is all true."

"So, after I stabbed the Wicked Witch in the head with the ruby slipper, I joined Dorothy back in Oz to lead the revolution." All of the scoobies mouths were now hanging open. "The wizard split me in two, the good half and the bad half," she explained.

"Been there, done that," Xander said.

"And the bad half led the revolution against the wizard, who turned out to be evil. After that I, that is the good me, returned to Earth because I didn't like what my bad self had done and didn't want to merge back again. But she followed me, seeking out the drunk driver responsible for my parents' death. Ran into Sam and Dean again. Dean, of course, had the Mark of Cain so he wasn't really able to control his rage," she continued.

"You have the Mark of Cain?" Giles asked Dean.

"Long story," Dean said dismissively.

"Well, Dean kicked my bad self to hell and back, but forgot that anything that happens to one version of me happens to the other. So my good self got the crap kicked out of her too. That's not really his fault though; my bad self was a bitch. We were able to put me back together shortly after that, and I took off again. Decided to continue hunting. And that's basically it," she ended lamely.

"You should have told us you were OK," Buffy said.

"Sorry," Charlie said quietly.

"Now that we know what happened to you, I can say, I'm glad you're alright," Giles said. He smiled, walked over and gave her a one-armed hug. "But what do we call you?" he asked as he let her go.

"Let's stick with Charlie. It's the one I'm the most used to, and used the longest," she said.

"So, Charlie, can you still help us get into the Men of Letter's server?" Sam asked her.

"Of course. You bitches know I'll always be there for you," she grinned.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Chasing Leads**

As it was now close to midnight, they decided to break and regroup in the morning. Sam and Dean went back to their hotel and Charlie was given a room to share with two other slayers.

The next morning, Sam and Dean arrived just as the group was finishing breakfast. They settled themselves back in the same office they were in the night before and Charlie set to work on her computer. Within a few hours, Charlie had them up and running on the Men of Letter's server. She was now working closely with Willow showing her how she had set up the server and made it as secure as possible. Willow was now suggesting other, more magical, methods of security to make it even safer. and together they were working on the code/spell work.

Dean was watching them work for a minute when he realized how closely they were sitting. Two red-heads? He remembered watching that movie and he smiled to himself. He found himself wondering about that possibility in real life with these two. He knew Charlie's tastes and thought she might be into Willow, but he wasn't sure about Willow.

"Could those two be any cozier?" came a quiet voice from behind him. The voice was so quiet, he was the only one who heard it, nevertheless he jumped having not known anyone was there.

"How the hell did you get behind me so quietly?" he asked.

"Perks of being a slayer," she shrugged. "But tell me I'm wrong here?" she added nodding toward Willow and Charlie. "It sounds like you know Vi – sorry – Charlie better than we do. Is there a chance for my girl there?" she asked.

"What are you, her wing-woman?" Dean asked, eyebrows raised.

"She's my best friend, and her last 2 girlfriends didn't work out so well. One dead, the other, well… let's just say it's better she left. Truthfully, I hated that chick," Buffy said, more to herself than Dean. "So, yes, I'd like to see her happy again."

"So she does swing that way," he said softly. Buffy laughed.

"I hate this part. The research. I've never been good at it," Buffy sighed looking around that the studious people around them.

"I know what you mean, Sammy's always been the brainy one," Dean said. Buffy was just thinking that maybe she had more in common with this guy than she originally thought, when Willow sprang up, laptop in hand.

"Found it!" she declared triumphantly. "It's a ritual in the Men of Letter's journals."

They all looked up excitedly.

"It's used for… oh balls… seriously?" she said, staring at the screen. Sam and Dean both chuckled at the curse.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"The Hellmouth. It's to open the Hellmouth," Willow said, looking up at her.

"Balls!" said Buffy and Xander together, echoing Willow.

"What's a Hellmouth?" Dean mouthed to Sam. Sam shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He didn't know either.

"What's a Hellmouth?" Dean said out loud, not liking the sound of it.

"It's like a doorway to Hell. If someone opens it, all of hell is unleashed on the Earth. There was one in Sunnydale too. You know, before we destroyed the entire town, the Hellmouth along with it," Willow said.

"So it's a Hell's Gate?" Dean asked.

"Same idea, except no physical door or key. They are usually opened through some kind of ritual. There's only a couple left in the world. Some, like Sunnydale, Pompeii, and Atlantis were destroyed. Other's like Istanbul, Bangalore, and Johannesburg are still active. We have teams of slayers in all the known cities to have Hellmouth's in case this kind of thing happens," Giles explained.

"So I take it that there's also one of these Hellmouths in Cleveland?" Sam asked.

"Yes, but we've never had a risk of this one opening before. The one in Sunnydale nearly killed us a couple of times though," Giles said.

"Awesome," Dean said. "So what does the ritual entail?"

"This is seriously long term. Those kids were actually killed as part of it. It requires the burying of the skulls of 12 children in dirt containing the crushed quill of a hedgehog, the blood of a lamb, and feather of a griffin. Allowing the dirt to penetrate their skin for at least 30 rotations of the Earth around the Sun, the skulls must then be crushed in a morter on the second full moon after the winter solstice and combined with additional ingredients: holy oil, crushed Egyptian scarabs, the blood of an immaculate soul, and the blood of a lost soul. These are then burned in the hottest of fires and poured on the Earth over the Hellmouth. There is then a latin chant to finish the ritual," Willow read.

"That's not asking for much, is it?" Dawn said sarcastically.

"The 'blood of an immaculate soul,' I get – virgins are commonly used in spells and rituals – but 'blood of a lost soul?' What does that even mean?" Dean asked.

"I would theorize at someone who's lost a soul and got it back," Giles answered. Dean glanced at Sam. "Or it could simply be someone who's come back from the dead," he continued. Dawn glanced at Buffy.

"When is the second full moon after the Winter Solstice?" Buffy asked.

"Next Tuesday," Willow answer promptly.

"So, we have little more than a week to figure out who is behind this and stop them," Buffy said.

"Awesome," Dean said again.

They spent the rest of the day researching who might have killed the children in the 70's and 80's and what ingredients they may already have. Sam began looking into local missing persons reports to determine who the bloods of the lost soul and immaculate soul might be coming from. Buffy decided that since research was never her thing, she would begin looking for where one might get some of the ingredients. Dean announced he would be joining her, much to her chagrin. Sam had to stop himself from smirking at this interaction.

"Why don't you stay here and help out Giles?" she said, when he declared he would be going with her.

"I told you, I hate the research part. I'd much rather be doing something productive," he argued.

"This is productive," said Sam from the other side of the room, "how else would you get most of your information? You can't always beat it out of some demon."

"It's never stopped me from trying," Dean countered.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Fine, if you have to come, then come. But stay out of my way."

"Well, that sounds all too familiar. B bossing someone around? Color me surprised," came a voice in the doorway. They all looked up at the newcomer. The dark haired woman looked around at them all, finally pausing on Dean and then Sam. "Who the hell are these guys?" she asked rudely.

"Sam, Dean, this is Faith," Giles introduced her. She flashed a grin at both of them.

"Down girl," Buffy said. "Faith, what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in Lima with Robin?"

"Got a call from Red that some shit was going down. You know that I can't stay away from the fun," she said arrogantly. She looked around at Willow and noticed Charlie there for the first time. "Vi? I thought you died on us."

"Call me Charlie," she said quietly. Faith raised her eyebrows. "Long story," Charlie said awkwardly.

"You'll have to explain that one to me later," Faith said. Turning to Buffy, she said, "so, where we going, B?"

" _We_ aren't going anywhere," Buffy said annoyed. " _I_ am going out to get some information."

" _We_ are going out to get some information," Dean corrected her.

Faith smirked, "And who are you again?"

"Dean Winchester," he said, holding out a hand. "That's my brother, Sam," he added pointing. Sam waved briefly from the corner.

"And I care because?" Faith asked.

"They're hunters, Faith. They're helping us out on the case," Willow said.

"Hunters, huh? I've known a few in my day. Ever hear of someone named Bobby Singer?" Faith asked them. Sam and Dean both stared at her, looking suddenly serious. "I'll take that as a yes. How is the old drunk? Still cheating at poker?"

"Dead," said Dean shortly. Faith's smile faded away.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I really liked that guy," Faith said. She dropped the subject. "OK, so B and Dean… I like that… are going 'to get some information.' Anything I can do? Someone I can hit?" she asked the group at large.

Buffy rolled her eyes again and made for the door, "you can help with the research," she said, and she walked out. Dean hesitated, glanced at Sam and followed her out.

Back in the hallway, Dean pulled out his keys, "I assume I'm driving again?"

"Bingo," Buffy answered him.

They walked on, passing some more slayers doing other research, and some who appeared to be doing Tai Chi. "This is quite the setup you've got here. So, who's that Faith chick? I got the feeling that you and her don't get along so well?" Dean asked. Buffy didn't answer him until they got into the car.

"Faith and I get along fine. When she's not trying to torture and kill people. Or me," she said, sounding slightly bitter. Dean turned the car on and looked at her surprised. "I'm not being fair, of course. She's been better since she got back."

"Got back?"

"From jail. Killing and torturing tends to land you on the wrong side of the police. Not that they would have caught her if she didn't want them to," Buffy added.

"She's a slayer too, I take it?" Dean asked.

"Yea. Only she's not one of the new ones. She was a slayer before all that happened," Buffy said.

"I thought you were the slayer before all that happened?" Dean asked pulling out of the long driveway. She glanced at him. "Long story?" he asked.

"I drowned and was revived. But it was enough to call the next slayer in line," Buffy explained.

"Apparently, not that long," he said, chuckling. "So, Faith was called after that?"

"No. The next slayer was a girl named Kendra. But she died too. Then Faith was called. And then Faith went crazy," Buffy said.

"That would be the 'killing and torturing' you mentioned?"

"Yup. Not a fun time," Buffy said. Dean nodded his head but said nothing. They drove on toward downtown Cleveland for about 15 minutes when Buffy told him to park on a side street. They were parked in front of what appeared to be a small smoke shop. Dean noticed the subtle hunter symbol in the window. He followed Buffy inside where she greeted the owner, whom she clearly knew.

"Hey Mercedes."

"Buffy! Blessed Be to you. No Willow today?" Buffy shook her head. The woman looked at Dean and grasped his hand. "And who is this gorgeous hunk of flesh?" After she released his hand, she gently pinched his backside.

"Hey!" he said surprised. She chuckled.

"That's Dean Winchester," Buffy laughed.

"Not John's boy?" Mercedes said, surprised.

"That would be me," Dean said. At this, Mercedes clapped her hands together and then hugged Dean so tightly she lifted him into the air.

"Wonderful!" she cried. "You're daddy saved my ass from a Ghoul years and years ago. Opened my eyes to what's really out there. I like to think I went into this business to help him and those like him with the blessed work that they do," she said passionately. He nodded at her awkwardly.

"Listen, Mercedes, we're wondering if anyone's been in here trying to buy some things?" Buffy asked directing the conversation.

"Such as?" she asked.

"Holy oil, Egyptian scarabs, blood of a virgin or lost soul?" Buffy said, reading off the list that Willow had given her.

"Egyptian scarabs and holy oil I can check on. But I don't sell blood here," she replied darkly.

"Ok, then can you check if anyone's bought those two things recently, and more specifically together?" Buffy asked.

"Sure, honey," she said moving behind the counter. She pulled up her sales history on the computer. "Let's see. Sold quite a bit of Egyptian scarabs recently, no more than usual I think. Holy oil is a bit more rare. I've only sold it to a handful of folks recently. Neither of these were sold together."

"Can you get me a list of the people who bought the holy oil?" Buffy asked.

"Anything for you," she winked.

Five minutes later, Buffy and Dean were walking out of the shop with a single sheet of paper with five names on it. 3 of the names had addresses listed as well. A sixth person had also bought holy oil, but paid with cash. Fortunately, the shop had security cameras, and Mercedes had given them a picture of the last person from the footage. Buffy knew Willow would be able to track that person down with face recognition. She sent a copy of the picture to Willow in a text along with the two names that she didn't have addresses for. Her and Dean would start finding the other people on the list in the meantime.

"What if this person got their holy oil somewhere else?" Dean asked on the way to the first house.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Buffy said. Changing the subject, she asked, "So how long have you and Sam been hunting?"

"Basically forever. My dad started training us when from when we were kids," he said.

"So young? I thought I had it bad getting called at 15," Buffy said.

They continued talking about their respective pasts until they pulled up to the first house. Looking up at it, Dean said, "looks normal." It was a 2-story colonial with blue shutters and a wraparound porch. They got out of the car and walked up to the front door, where Buffy knocked. A balding man with thick glasses opened the door.

Buffy opened her mouth to speak, but Dean cut her off, pulling out his badge, "Good morning, sir. I'm Special Agent Young, FBI. I'm investigating the recent discovery at the abandoned McDyllan house, and was hoping you might be willing to answer a few questions." The older man eyed him suspiciously and then looked at Buffy. "This is my associate, Ms. Somers, she's consulting on the case," Dean added.

The man scowled, shrugged and then stood aside to allow them inside. Buffy scowled at Dean in much the same manner. The man closed the front door behind them and ushered them into a sitting room. "Can I get you something to drink?" he asked in a wheezy voice.

"No, thank you," Buffy said. "Now about those children that the police found…" but the man cut her off.

"You're not FBI," he said to Dean.

Surprised, Dean said, "I assure you, sir…" but he, too, was interrupted.

"She's a slayer, and you, I'm guessing, are a hunter. The supernatural is all over your two. You think someone like me can't sense that? I'm over 150 years old, boy, I've had a lot of practice at this. You can't lie to me."

Dean blinked. Buffy, however, said, "you're correct, sir. But we would still like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind?"

"It's strange, though," he said ignoring Buffy's question. "I've never seen a slayer work with a hunter before. You tend to stay away from each other. Don't ask me why. I always thought it made more sense to team up, but there you are."

"Yes, there we are," Buffy said, nodding. Getting to the point, she said, "We were wondering, Mr. Alves, for what use you purchased a flask of holy oil recently."

"I'm not involved in those kids death's," he said bluntly. "The holy oil was for trapping an angel."

"That makes sense as that is what it is primarily used for. But I'm curious why you are trying to trap an angel… Also, which one?" Dean asked.

"The dick that possessed my wife. The angel's name is Anahita, and my wife was foolish enough to say yes to her. She went to fight some war for another angel named Metatron," he said.

"Ah, yes. Metatron's a megadouche like that. That war is over, though. Metatron's in heaven's jail, although if I had my way, he would be long dead," Dean said.

"So, then shouldn't Anahita have gone back to heaven and released my wife? I've been trying to summon her, but she won't come," he said sadly.

"Hey Cass! Can you come down for a second?" Dean said, raising his voice.

"Who are you talking –" but Mr. Alves jumped halfway through his question as Cass appeared out of nowhere.

"Dean?" Cass said gruffly.

"Cass, do you know an angel named Anahita?" Dean asked.

"You know an angel?" Mr. Alves asked Dean with awe.

"I know of her. Never met her personally. She killed several of my soldiers last year in the war with Metatron. I heard that she was killed shortly before his capture. Why?" Cass said.

Mr. Alves cried out, "What? She's dead? What about my wife? Her host?"

"I'm sorry," said Cass realizing what was going on. "But the host was killed along with Anahita. Is that all you needed Dean? I'm very busy at the moment."

"Yea, that's it. Thanks, Cass," Dean said. Cass vanished from sight.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Alves," Buffy said.

Mr. Alves had tears streaming down his face. "Gone! After everything, she's gone! What's the point of being a warlock if I can't stop my wife from dying." Dean and Buffy said nothing. Mr. Alves tried to regain his composure. "Thank you for at least helping me find out what happened. As for your investigation, I'm afraid I don't know what happened to those kids. But if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know."

They looked at each other, agreed that there was nothing dangerous about this guy, and nodded to him. They walked out, leaving Mr. Alves alone in his sitting room.

"Well, that isn't what I was expecting," Buffy said as they got back to the car.

"Actually I wouldn't be surprised if we found a lot of that. Holy oil isn't used for much more than trapping angels. And there were a lot of hosts taken last year for that war with Metatron," Dean said.

"Well, don't you just know everything?" Buffy said, annoyed. His knowledge of world events that she had no idea about was starting to annoy her. She was also extremely jealous that he had an angel on speed dial.

"What did I do?" Dean asked, surprised at her tone.

"Never mind," Buffy said grumpily.

Buffy and Dean continued on to the next person on the list. As they were driving to the address, Buffy received a text from Willow with the names and addresses of the remaining people they needed to find. The next person on the list was a middle-aged woman who needed the holy oil as part of a new spell she was trying to invent. Dean warned her not to mess around with that kind of stuff as it could end badly for her. Buffy, however, was very interested in what she was trying to do. She was attempting to add real angel wings to her back so that she could fly. Dean quietly pointed out to Buffy that Willow could fly and that she didn't need wings. Buffy flapped her hands at him and said "shhh," as she listened to the woman's explanation of how she thought the spell should work.

After they left, Buffy suggested that they find something to eat for lunch. Excited to get some food, Dean agreed. They drove to a local diner and sat at a table in the corner. When the waiter came over, Buffy ordered a shrimp Caesar Salad and lemonade. Dean made a face at her order and asked for a double bacon cheeseburger with fries. While they waited for their food, they each were quietly trying to think of something to say.

Finally, Buffy said, "so, you said you've been hunting since you were a kid. Did your parents teach you? Isn't that kinda harsh for a kid?"

"Well, my dad taught us after a demon killed our mother," Dean responded.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up badness," Buffy said embarrassed.

"It's okay. How about you? You said you were fifteen? You were told what was going on by your watcher, like Charlie? How did your parents handle you being 'the chosen one'?" Dean asked.

"It's not like they had a say in the matter," Buffy pointed out. "My dad left around that time anyway, and then my first watcher was killed, and eventually Giles told me not to tell my mother. Secret identity and all that."

"He made you keep a secret identity? Didn't you go to school while this was going on?" Dean asked curiously.

"Oh yea. That's where I met Willow and Xander. They found out who I was like my first day at Sunnydale. Of course, when your school's library is positioned over a hellmouth, it's hard to hide supernatural crap from your classmates forever. And with some of the crap that went on there, pretty much everyone knew there was something different about me by the time we graduated… especially when the Mayor turned into a giant snake at graduation and we all had to fight him," Buffy said reminiscing. "Things were so much simpler back then. One slayer, one big bad, one hellmouth. All we had to do was blow up the school to win. I miss those days." She laughed.

Dean was staring at her, "You blew up your school?"

"Good times," Buffy said, eyes glazing over. "Now, it's like, I have an army of young girls, half of whom don't speak English, trying to make sense of a ridiculous world, multiple hellmouths to protect, a best friend who can fly, and now two hunters who hang out with angels. It's out of control."

Dean nodded. He thought that while some of his crap is fairly huge, at least he doesn't have to worry about an army of tweens. Their food arrived and they ate in silence for a while.

After Dean's finished his burger, he began munching on his fries while Buffy finished her shrimp salad. When the bill arrived, Buffy reached for it, but Dean threw several bills on top of the receipt before Buffy could even reach it. He smirked at her.

"On me," he said. She scowled but agreed only because he had been eating her food back at the house. They got up and went back to the car to resume their investigation.

The next three houses turned up nothing sinister; one couple trying to find their daughter who'd been taken as a host by an angel, an older man who thought that rubbing holy oil on his skin would help slow the aging process, and one woman (who smelled strongly of bourbon) who thought that the holy oil was vegetable oil and had been cooking with it.

They were beginning to think that none of these people would turn out to be the culprit as they headed toward the final house, the man who had paid with cash. As they day wore on, they had begun bickering about the proper way to kill different monsters.

"I'm telling you, a stake through the heart won't do anything to a vampire!" Dean was growling.

"Been fighting them _professionally_ for almost 10 years now. They turn to dust when you stake them," Buffy yelled back.

"Are you saying that I'm not a professional? I've been doing this longer than you have, and I've never seen a vampire turn to dust," Dean argued.

"Well, then I don't know what kind of vamps you've been fighting, because they always turn to dust, no matter how you kill them!" Buffy snarled back. "And yes, this is my calling! I don't have a choice in the matter. You could stop fighting any time you wanted to!"

"Tried that, it didn't take," Dean said through his teeth as he pulled in front of the house. _Is this day over yet?_ he thought to himself.

They didn't say anything to each other, both having been insulted about their methods several times by the other, as they walked up the sidewalk to the house. It was run down and Buffy didn't see how anyone could actually live there. There were shingles missing from the roof, the chimney was broken, with pieces having fallen to the ground, the shutters were hanging off their hinges, or missing altogether, and several of the windows were broken. As they stepped up the stairs to the porch, the wood creaked ominously; Buffy worried that it would give out completely. Dean went to push the doorbell, but as there were wires coming out of it, he knocked on the door instead.

"This looks inviting," Buffy said quietly.

Not entirely sure if anyone would actually answer, they waited patiently.

"Could be an old address?" Dean suggested.

"Could be a trap," Buffy answered.

They knocked again, both ready for anything, but after another few minutes of no answer, Buffy said, "I'm going in." She raised her leg to kick the door down, but Dean stopped her. He pulled a small toolkit out of his coat pocket and pulled out a lock pick.

"That's just no fun," Buffy said under her breath. Dean pretended he didn't hear her, but smiled to himself all the same as he picked the lock. Within seconds, the door was open and they walked inside. Suddenly, a large man jumped out from a closet and tackled Dean to the ground. Reacting on instinct, Buffy grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him into the wall, which crunched behind him, and he fell into the next room. Dean jumped up and they both ran into the other room, Dean holding his gun high, Buffy with her fists clenched. They found the man crumpled on the floor. He looked to be about 45, slightly balding, and much thinner than he should be. He had the look of someone who'd lost a lot in a short amount of time.

"Don't shoot!" he cried when he saw the gun, holding his hands high. Dean cocked the gun. Buffy, seeing the agony on the man's face, grabbed the gun from Dean, unarmed it and threw it on the ground.

"These things," she said as she dropped it, "never helpful."

"Hey!" Dean yelled as he watched his favorite gun bounce on the ground, kicking up a lot of dust into the air.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" the man said as he tried to get up.

"Not that I trust you!" Buffy snarled at the man, who gasped and fell back down. Whether he was physically hurt or just afraid of Buffy, Dean wasn't sure. Either way, he was impressed with the aura of strength that seemed to be coming off her. He hadn't noticed it before.

"Why did you attack us?" Buffy asked forcefully.

"I thought you were here to kill me," he said.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because of what I had been saying to heaven. I figured you must be angels coming to punish me," he explained. He looked at them, "That probably makes no sense to you. But, I swear, I'm not crazy. Angels are real, I was trying to get their help!"

"Why?" Buffy asked again.

"You… you believe me?" he asked incredibly.

"Pretend that we do," Dean said. "Why were you trying to get help from angels? And if that's all you were doing, why would they want to kill you?"

"It's my husband! He's been possessed by a demon, and I thought, who better than to stop a demon than an angel, right?" he said. Buffy nodded.

"So I was trying to summon one, but when they didn't come, I started cursing them. Yelling at them, asking what good are they to not help those in need," he continued.

"Don't expect much," Dean said, "Angels are dicks."

"Wha…?" the man said, eyes widening. Dean looked at Buffy and shrugged, "guessing this isn't our guy either?"

She shook her head, "probably not." She looked at the man pityingly and then back at Dean, "maybe we can help him find his husband? Exorcise the demon?"

"Don't we have bigger issues at the moment? Children's skulls and the end of the world and all that?" Dean pointed out.

The man was staring at them both, bewildered, but one thing seemed to penetrate his mind. "You can get my husband back?" he asked Buffy hopefully.

"Maybe," she said. "But, there's a bigger situation going on right now that we have to focus on. Maybe we can try to find your husband when we've taken care of that. One way or the other, we'll be done by the end of next week."

"Oh, please do! You don't know what I've been through. I've lost my job, all my money. Our daughter was taken by child services after we were evicted from our house. I've been squatting in this old place for weeks, just trying to find a reason for what happened. He's still in the city, I know he is, because I've seen him! But his eyes! They were black. And when I started researching what that could mean, I found out the truth! Demons! Monsters! Angels! They're all real," he rambled. Dean thought that this was probably the first time he'd spoken to anyone in quite some time.

"We believe you," Buffy said. The man's face lit up. "Listen, why don't you come with us back to my place – " Dean cut her off.

"Whoa, hold on," he said stepping in front of Buffy and blocking the man from her sight. He lowered his voice, "You don't know this guy. If you have to send him somewhere else, why don't you send him to the hotel that Sam and I are staying at? Sam and I can stay at your place, in what I'm guessing are plenty of empty rooms, and he can take our room. It's already paid up for a week. Then, assuming we aren't dead next week, we can go get him and help him out. Deal?"

"We don't have 'plenty of empty rooms.' I was going to suggest that he could take Dawn's room, and she could bunk with me. There's a reason that we had to put Vi – Charlie, shoot - in a room with two other girls," Buffy said.

"Umm… who are you people?" the man asked.

Buffy sighed. "Fine," she stepped around Dean and addressed the man, "my name is Buffy, this is Dean. Let's just say that we're in the line of work that you've recently discovered exists. But, it's cold out, and it doesn't look like this place has a lot of heat. Dean here has generously offered you a hotel room to stay in for the next week, while we do our jobs. After that, we can come get you and find your husband."

"Oh, thank you so much!" he ran at Buffy and hugged her. "You have no idea what this means to me! I haven't slept in a bed in months. I thought this place was a miracle, but you two have done more for me in the last 10 minutes, than anyone's done for me in the last 10 months. If we find my husband, I swear to you, I'll make it up to you somehow. I promise!" He let go of Buffy and hugged Dean who looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Okay! That's enough hugging," he said. The man released him.

"My name is Michael. Michael Worth."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – Getting to Know Each Other**

They drove Michael to the motel that Dean and Sam had been staying in. Dean grabbed their stuff and threw it in the back. Then Dean and Buffy pooled their cash and gave him all they had, about $500, for food, drinks, and maybe some clean clothes. He continued to thank them as they walked him to his room. He hugged them both again, and seemed to be in a state of awe about what they had done for him.

As they walked back to the car, his thank you's still ringing in their ears, Buffy turned to Dean and asked, "So, if this is all you do, where did you get all that money from?"

"We hustle pool, poker, and darts," he laughed. "And you?"

"The watcher's council had very deep pockets. Like _really_ deep. When they were all killed, Giles and Willow hacked their accounts and transferred all the funds to us. We should be set for a while."

"How deep is really deep?" Dean asked. She grinned but didn't answer him.

They drove back to the house in silence, after they both realized that they didn't find the culprit behind the ritual. Dean pulled into the driveway, they both got out and began walking to the front door. Buffy opened the door and walked into the hallway, Dean close behind her. As they passed a room, Buffy briefly glanced inside before she passed it and then she froze and spun around.

"What the hell, Faith!" she shrieked. Dean looked over her shoulder to see what she was looking at, his mouth fell open. Faith looked up and around at the sound of her name.

"B! I was just welcoming the new guy to the team," she said grinning. She got up from the chair that she had been straddling, and put on her shirt which was lying nearby. She was clearly unashamed. Sam had been sitting beneath her and was still on the chair. His cheeks were red, and his hair was everywhere.

Buffy and Dean walked into the room, Dean feeling a smirk rise on his face. "Faith! What kind of message are you sending to the girls?"

"Oh, c'mon B, the girls are all outside training with Red and Giles. It was just us, and I thought we might have some fun," she winked at Buffy and said so only she could hear her, "you have to admit, these two are awfully cute. You could welcome the other one somewhere else."

"Ewe, Faith," Buffy said loudly, pushing Faith away from her. Sam turned even more pink not knowing what Faith had said. Dean looked at him, and then noticed a half empty bottle next to him.

"Dude, are you drunk?" Dean asked him.

"I may have given him a few sips," Faith said. "Boy really struggles to hold his liquor." She laughed.

"Awesome," Dean said, shaking his head. "Ok, bed time for you, man."

"Dean!" Sam slurred. "We found somfin on the imvestigation. We thhhink it's prolly a demonnn…" he trailed off and giggled, looking back at Faith. Dean raised his eyebrows at his brother.

Buffy and Dean both pushed past Faith, and grabbed Sam by the arms. They held him as he swayed standing upright, and then they walked him the kitchen. Dean sat him down at the table, and Buffy grabbed a bottle of water, and some bread from the counter. "Here," she said, putting them in front of him. Sam giggled slightly again.

"That Faith chick is hot, dude," he said blinking.

"Every damn time!" Buffy said loudly.

"What?" Dean asked her.

"That girl does not know how to keep it in her pants," she huffed. "Watch him. I wouldn't be surprised if he contracts something if they go all the way."

"Oh, c'mon B. You know I play it safe. I'm not that gross," Faith said, as she walked into the room.

"Faith, how many of my guy friends are you going to sleep with anyway? Are you trying to break some kind of record?" Buffy asked annoyed.

"What can I say, the guys in your life are hot," she shrugged. Buffy made a face.

"Go, help train the girls. One of us should be there, and since I'm cleaning up your mess, as usual, you should do it," Buffy said. Faith frowned at her.

"Are you really pissed about this?" she asked. Buffy glared at her. "Ok, Ok! I'll go." Faith surrendered raising her hands. She then turned and walked out of the room toward the back yard.

"How many of your guy friends has she slept with?" Dean asked, grinning, before he could stop himself. Buffy turned her glare on him. He turned back to Sam and tried to get him to drink some water.

"Do you want some dinner?" Buffy asked, changing the subject.

"Watcha got?" he asked.

Buffy and Dean ate a quiet dinner while trying to keep Sam upright and drinking water and eating if they could get him to. Dean and Buffy were discussing the sleeping arrangements when Willow, Charlie, and Dawn walked in.

"Hey! There you are. Faith said you were back," Willow said. Buffy frowned.

"What's up with him?" Dawn asked, seeing Sam who had his head resting on the table, his eyes only half open.

"Faith got him drunk," Buffy said.

"Wait, seriously?" Charlie asked, curiously.

"Dawn, Sam and Dean will staying in your room for the next week or so, so you'll have to bunk with me," Buffy said directing the conversation away from Sam and Faith.

"Why?" she asked surprised.

"We figured it would be easier if they stayed here since we were going to be working together so closely. Is that okay?" Buffy asked.

"Sure, no biggie," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Hey Will, Sam, sort of, mentioned that you might have found something about who could be trying to perform the ritual?" Buffy said.

"Oh yea. I take it that you guys didn't find anything with those names you had?" Willow asked.

"Nada," Buffy said. "Just a couple lonely people looking for loved ones, and one drunk who was using holy oil instead of vegetable oil."

"Hahaha! That's funny!" Sam suddenly, sitting upright. They all looked at him, and he slouched back down on the table and fell asleep.

"Why don't I put him to bed and then we can review what you all found?" Dean suggested.

"Good idea," Buffy said.

Fifteen minutes later, Dean walked into the study looking grumpy. "He hit me when I tried to get him in bed," he explained to Buffy.

"Does that happen a lot?" she asked.

"The hitting far more often than the drinking, interestingly enough," Dean shrugged. Buffy looked puzzled for a minute, and then resumed her discussion with Giles.

"So, we're looking at a Juvecran demon," Giles said. "They're the only kind of creatures that would bother with a ritual this long-term. We also found the children were not all taken from around here, they were taken from all over the country." Dean asked how he found that out. "Charlie hacked into the police database and their corresponding investigation," he explained.

"So we know what they know," Charlie said smiling. Dean nodded at her.

"They didn't have much in common apart from they were missing without a trace, presumed dead, and they were all kids. It seems like they were chosen at random," Giles said.

"So how do we find this thing, and stop the ritual?" Buffy asked.

"Find it, I'm not sure yet," Willow answered. "But, as far as stopping the ritual, we can't just interrupt it, or stop it from being completed. We have to let it finish and then kill the demon before the hellmouth opens."

"Why?" asked Dean and Buffy together.

"For the same reason that these demons like this kind of ritual. If it's started, then it has to be completed or then we start getting apocalypse style events worldwide that don't stop. We're looking at earthquakes, hurricanes, rain of toads, the four horsemen, the whole nine yards," Willow said.

"Oh, I so don't want to deal with the horsemen again," Dean groaned. They all looked at him. "Long story," he said, shaking his head.

"So, when this ritual was started 30 years ago, it was destined to happen, or else we're looking at total earth destruction, anyway – just slower. Kinda like a failsafe," Willow finished.

"Which is so not fair," Charlie added.

"Ok, so we let him finish the ritual, and then we kill him?" Buffy asked.

"Bingo," Willow said.

"That won't give us much time. So how do we kill him?" Dean asked.

Willow looked at her notes, but Giles answered him, "His life-force is tied to the ritual, which is why killing him at the end is the only way to stop it. But as a result, it also means, that we need some of the same ingredients that he does. The holy oil, scarab beetles, quill of a hedgehog, blood of a lamb, and the feather of a griffin; that stuff shouldn't be a problem. We already have most of that stuff here. No, the problem is going to be the blood of the virgin, and blood of the lost soul. We have to use the same blood that he uses. Meaning we have to find the people that he's using."

"Awesome," Dean said.

"Where do we even start?" Buffy asked.

"Well, the blood of the virgin could be any virgin from anywhere, so that might be a little harder to find. I've got some girls looking through the missing persons database to see if maybe there are any local candidates. Of course, sometimes it's hard to find out if someone is or isn't a virgin, and sometimes it's matter of perspective," Willow explained. Giles started cleaning his glasses. "Now the blood of the lost soul, should be a little easier to find. There aren't many people who are alive and have lost their souls only to get them back," Willow concluded.

"But I thought you said that it may simply mean someone who died and came back. Couldn't that be a lot more people? People who were revived and had near-death experiences and things?" Dawn asked Giles nervously.

"No, I don't think that's the case," he answered, putting his glasses back on. "My research into the ritual and this demon suggests that it has to be the soul itself that was lost, while the body was still living. A person can live without a soul, but they are usually a much darker person. I suggest that while the girls are looking into the local virgins, we began looking into this part. Simply because I think the people we might meet will be a little more… complicated. I've reached out to some of my contacts in the spirit world, and Willow has been doing some… alternate forms of research, and we came up with a short list of people who've lost their souls, got them back, and are still alive. There are only a handful of likely candidates."

"Angel," Buffy said quietly. Giles nodded his head.

"and Sam," Dean finished solemnly looking at Giles, who nodded again.

"Sam?" Several people asked at once. "Your brother?" Dawn asked to clarify.

"Sam went to hell a few years back and was brought back, only his soul was stuck in the pit and couldn't be retrieved," Dean explained.

"How did you get it back?" Dawn asked.

"One of those horsemen you mentioned. I made a deal with Death to get his soul out of the cage. It wasn't one of the greatest moments of our lives," he said.

"You made a deal with Death?" Dawn asked in awe. Dean nodded.

"Huh… So, any others?" Buffy asked turning back to Giles.

"… A couple," he said ambiguously.

"So we should reach out to those folks, make sure they're okay. We'll make sure to keep an eye on Sam, and I'll give Angel a call. Giles, do you know if he's still in LA?" Buffy asked.

"Last I heard, LA was completely overrun. Some demon warlords essentially took it over and fenced it off from the rest of the world. The vast majority of the humans that lived there have fled; the rest were killed or taken as slaves. As far as I know, Angel found as many people as he could and got them out before it was fenced off," Giles said.

"So where is he now?" she pressed.

"Last I heard he and a few others were in Pasadena trying to find a way to take it back," he said.

"Ok, I'll reach out to him," Buffy said.

"Uhh… Giles, is that a good idea?" came Andrew's voice from the corner. "Aren't you worried he'd… come here if he knew what was going on? And bring… others?" Giles looked at him over the top of his glasses.

"We have to warn him at the very least. If he wants to come and help, I don't see how we can stop him. Or anyone else," Giles said eyeing Andrew carefully.

"What are you two talking about?" Buffy asked looking between the two of them.

"Never mind," Giles said dismissively.

"Okay, it's been a long night, I suggest we all get to bed. Dean, keep an eye on your brother. I'll call Angel, and we'll regroup and reach out to the rest of the potential victims tomorrow," Buffy announced. Dean nodded and left the room. Everyone else finished what they were doing and headed off in their direction of their respective rooms.

Buffy sighed and pulled out her phone. Slowly she pulled up Angel's contact info and stared at it for a long time. It had been almost 3 years since she'd last spoken to Angel, having told him that she cared for Spike. She hadn't heard too much from him since then especially after she sent Andrew to retrieve a psychotic slayer from LA, and then found out that he'd started a war against Wolfram & Hart, essentially wiping LA off the map for humans. Her finger hovered over the "call" button as she hesitated. She wasn't sure how to talk to him anymore. She would always love him, she knew that, but what she loved about him anymore, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was just the memory of how he made her feel. Maybe she just wasn't sure because she hadn't seen him in 3 years. Would those feelings spark up when she spoke to him again? Resigned to her fate, she was about to press the "call" button when a voice spoke from the doorway.

"Nervous to talk to him?"

Buffy looked around. Willow was smiling sadly at her. Willow always understood Buffy, especially when it came to how she felt about Angel, even if she didn't agree with it. Buffy nodded her head.

"After all this time, you still love him. And I would be shocked if he didn't still love you. But, after everything that's happened, the amount of time that's passed, you're not sure why," Willow said. It wasn't a question. Buffy nodded again. "Well, all I can suggest is that you get to the point, emphasize that you already have help, and just make it clear that this is just a warning." Willow hesitated, "unless you want him to come?"

"No, that's probably not the best idea," Buffy said slowly.

"Yea… besides, I think you and Dean are cute together," Willow said, suddenly smirking.

"Oh, gods, please! That guy is so infuriating. So arrogant. So…"

"much like you?" Willow finished. Buffy eyes were reduced to slits in response.

"No," she said finally.

"Okay," Willow said skeptically, still smirking. Becoming serious again, she said, "Call Angel." She left the room.

Buffy sighed again and finally hit the "call" button. Bringing the phone to her ear, she listened to it ring a couple times, and then she trembled slightly as she heard, "Buffy?"

Angel's voice was saying her name on the other end. Determined to sound casual, she said, "Hey Angel. How are you?"

Angel wasn't convinced at the normal tone, he knew there was only one reason she would be calling him after all this time. "Buffy, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing, nothing… well, something, but it may not involve you at all," she said.

"Ok?"

"It's just, we're in Cleveland, and there's a demon trying to open the Hellmouth. Can you believe that that stupid thing is still causing me problems?" she forced a laugh. Angel tried to interrupt, but she continued, "well, anyway, one of the ingredients for the ritual that this demon is performing to open it is the blood of a lost soul. Giles thinks that means a living being who's lost his soul and then got it back."

"So this is a warning?" he asked.

"Pretty much. There are a few other people that the demon could go after, but the number is pretty small, and since we know you can handle yourself, we figured a warning was all you needed. Just keep an eye open in case he decides to come after you," she finished lamely.

"Buffy, maybe I should come out there? I can help," Angel started.

"No, no. No need. Just needed to warn everyone who's ever lost a soul and gotten it back, and you were on that list, soo…. I guess that's it," Buffy said.

"Everyone who's ever lost a soul and gotten it back?" he repeated slowly.

"What's wrong?" she asked, surprised at his tone.

"Nothing, just need to talk to someone, that's all. Are you sure you don't want me to come out there to help?" he asked.

"Yea, we got plenty of help here. And you're probably safer out there. This demon's probably more likely to choose someone a little closer to the area. But thanks for the offer," Buffy said.

"Buffy…" Angel started.

"Take care of yourself, Angel," she said quickly.

"You too, bye," he said taking his cue to end the conversation.

"Bye," she said and she hung up.

"That sounded awkward," Dean said from the doorway.

"What the…?" she shrieked as she spun around, heart beating fast. "You scared the hell out of me!"

"Sorry," he said, surprised. "Thought it would take a bit more than that to scare the infamous slayer."

"Shut up," she shot back.

"Wow, he must really have gotten under your skin? Who is this guy? And what kind of name is Angel anyway?" Dean asked interestedly.

"Not sure that's any of your business," Buffy said.

"Ahhh, ex-boyfriend?" he postulated.

"Why are you in here? Shouldn't you be watching your brother?" she said, changing the subject.

"Oh, he's fast asleep. I figure in a house full of slayers, hunters, and a witch or two, he's probably fairly safe. Plus, he can hold his own, even if he's drunk off his ass. Besides, it's too early to go to bed, for me anyway; I don't sleep much," he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask and took a draught.

"Really? After the way your brother got tonight?" she said raising her eyebrows at him.

"Oh, don't worry, unlike my brother, I can hold my liquor without an issue," he said taking another sip. He watched her face as he raised the flask to his lips. After he swallowed, he held it out to her. She shook her head. "Might make you feel better after that conversation with the ex," he pointed out.

She thought about it and he had a point. She took the flask from him and took a small sip. "blleeeehhhh," she said shaking her head and sticking her tongue out. Eye's watering, she said, "that's disgusting." He laughed and took the flask back. They sat in silence for a few minutes, when Dean pulled out his gun and started taking it apart.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked eyeing the weapon suspiciously.

"Cleaning my gun. Proper weapon maintenance is important you know," he said.

"I hate guns," she said.

"I gathered that fact," he looked at her and he looked back at the gun, reassembled it and put it out of sight again. "Sorry," he added.

"Whatever. I'm going to go to bed," she stood up and left the room, leaving Dean alone with his gun.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 – Hello Goodbye**

The next morning, Dean woke up to find Sam with his head in the toilet. There were several girls outside the bathroom door giggling, and one who looked ready to throw up herself at the sounds. They left when they saw Dean approach the bathroom.

"Thank god there are other bathrooms," one of them said as they left.

"Sammy, you okay in there?" Dean asked. More retching reached his ears. He chuckled and shook his head as Faith came up to him from her room.

"Wow, your brother really doesn't party much, does he?" she asked him.

"Not really his thing. He actually spent his time in college studying," he said.

"He went to college? And he studied there? Wierdo," Faith said.

"Says the girl with superpowers," Dean pointed out.

"Hey, with or without the superpowers, I could hold my own. Boston doesn't breed wimps after all," she laughed.

Dean shrugged. She turned and went back into her room, shutting the door behind her, but not before winking at Dean. He shook his head after her. _Girls like that usually go after me, weird_ , he thought to himself. He knocked on the door to the bathroom again. It opened quickly, revealing a green-looking Sam behind it.

"I hate my life," he said.

"I hate your life, too," Dean said. "C'mon breakfast, some greasy sausage will really help the hangover." Sam gagged and had to suppress the sick that was threatening to continue coming up. Dean laughed and directed him to the kitchen.

"Good morning, sunshines!" cried Andrew who was standing at the stove. He was wearing a bright apron that said "Kiss the Elf" on it. He spooned some eggs and bacon onto two plates for them and handed them to each. They awkwardly thanked him and went to the table to eat, where several of the girls who had been giggling at Sam, were already sitting. The girls greeted them cheerfully, and then continued their conversation which appeared to be gossip. When the girls were finished they cleared their plates and put them into the dishwasher. _That's good training, right there_ , Dean thought. The girls left the kitchen as Buffy and Dawn walked in, greeting them and Andrew.

"I can't stay for breakfast long, I have class in 20 minutes," Dawn said to Buffy when they took their plates from Andrew. Dean privately wondered if Andrew was their unofficial servant.

"Class?" Dean asked.

"Yea, I'm enrolled at the local community college, Buffy insisted even though _she_ never finished college," Dawn said bitterly.

"Your education is important," Buffy said in a motherly voice. Dawn made a skeptical face.

"Hey, don't feel bad, kiddo, Sammy went to College too," Dean said patting Sam on the back, who groaned, holding his head. Buffy and Dawn made the same surprised face, but didn't ask about it. Andrew put a cup of coffee in front of Sam, who gratefully started drinking it. After a few minutes of quick eating, Dawn got up and left. Buffy continued to eat her meal in silence, as people continued to come and go for breakfast. When they were done, the three of them got up and went into the study, where Willow, Charlie, and Giles were already working.

"Xander at work?" Buffy asked looking around. Willow nodded.

"He works? Like a real job?" Dean asked surprised.

"Yea, he likes to feel useful, and as he's the only one with a real job, he likes to think that he's contributing by earning money, and not just spending it. Also, he really likes what he does," Willow said.

"Which is?" Dean said.

"He's a carpenter," Buffy said. "He makes a lot of our new furniture, and is extremely handy to have around the house." Dean was impressed as he didn't know much about Xander.

"So, any issues contacting Angel, Buffy?" Giles asked abruptly, leading the discussion to the issue at hand.

Dean was subtly studying her face from his chair. Buffy had turned a little red. "No, no issues. Gave him the warning."

"What warning? Who's Angel?" asked Sam quietly. They all looked at him.

"Right, Sam, I didn't get a chance to tell you last night. They were able to confirm what the ritual required when it said 'blood of a lost soul,'" Dean said awkwardly.

"And this Angel guy is the victim?" he asked.

"One of the potential victims, yes," Giles said. They were all watching Sam carefully.

"And so are you, Sam," Dean said. Sam said nothing, but nodded in understanding.

"So, what about the other potential victims?" Buffy said turning back to Giles.

"There are only a handful, as people who lose their souls are either monsters, dead, or just don't get them back. Willow and Charlie were working to get the addresses of the few that did. There's only one locally, though. We think she's probably the most likely target," Giles said.

"Who is she?" Buffy asked.

"A local woman named Silvia Goldbloom. My contacts said that she lost her soul in a poker game with a demon, but her boyfriend was able to win it back a few weeks later. She did some pretty awful things during that time, which would explain why she's now in a mental institution," Giles said.

"Great, let's go see her," Buffy said.

"We can't," said Charlie. "The woman killed several people when she was soulless, and is now 'a danger to herself and society.' Apparently, the only visitor she's been allowed to have is her boyfriend, supposedly because he calms her down."

"So, what do we do? Just wait for the demon to attack someone, hope that it leaves the person alive with enough blood for us to use to kill him?" This plan isn't sounding so great," Buffy said.

"Do we have any way to know who the demon will choose?" Sam asked.

"Not that I can find. But since he's connected to the ritual, maybe he can sense potential victims?" Willow suggested.

"So, what if I put myself out into the open?" Sam said. They all stared at him. "Thank about it. If this demon is looking for a person who's lost their soul and gotten it back, and can sense these people, he should be able to sense me, right? So I put myself out in the open, let him attack me and get some blood, but I can probably fight him off long enough for you guys to come and make sure he doesn't kill me. Then you can take some of my blood to kill him." He looked around at them all. Most of them had the same skeptical look on their faces.

"Not a chance," Dean said.

"We're not going to let you offer yourself up as bait," Buffy said.

"Actually, he's got a point," Faith walked into the room from the hallway. "He can protect himself well enough to stay alive, and the rest of us are surely strong enough to stop this thing from killing him. And this way, we can save someone else without having to worry who that person is."

"We don't know that this demon can sense you. For all we know, he's already got the blood that he needs. He could have had it for years, and the person it came from died long ago. This demon plans ahead," Dean pointed out.

"Actually, I don't think that's likely," said Willow looking at her notes. "From what I can tell, the blood of the virgin and the lost soul have to be fairly fresh, like still warm, fresh. That would mean that he would have to keep the victims alive and with him up until the time of the ritual, which is next Tuesday. So, if he doesn't have them already, we're looking for a kidnapping. That's why I have the girls looking for recently missing virgins."

"Bringing me back to my point," Sam said. "Let me be the bait."

"And when are we supposed to do that? Let him take you tonight, and you just hang out with the demon for a few days, or do we hope that he waits until the last minute to grab his victim?" Dean asked.

The group at large argued about this plan for a good portion of the day between trying to find other potential victims. Sam was convinced that this was the only way to ensure that they could control the demon in any way. Most of them agreed with him, but weren't willing to let him take the risk. Faith and Giles agreed with Sam outright. Buffy and Dean refused. By lunch, most of them had consented to it being the best plan, and even if the demon kidnapped him early, he could have a GPS on him, which would allow them to find him quickly.

The younger slayers arrived in the afternoon to tell them that they couldn't find any indication of missing virgins that might have been the victim. They worked with Willow, who used her magic to find the missing virgins well into the evening to confirm their suspicions. They expanded their search areas past the city limits and into the surrounding suburbs.

By dinner they had been able to reach out to get a hold of almost everyone who had ever lost their soul and gotten it back, and was still alive. None of them were missing, but most had mental issues, similar to the local woman. They warned the institutions holding these people that someone might come looking for them and to call them if that happened. In the meantime there wasn't much for them to do but wait to see who the demon took.

The next day continued in much the same manner. Giles had started reaching out to his contacts to see if they had any information on potential victims. Sam was now convinced that he was right, and had most of the people in the house agreeing with him. Buffy and Dean, however, stubbornly maintained that they would not let him do this.

On the morning of the third day of staying in the house, Sam and Dean were eating breakfast with Buffy, Willow, and Dawn when Giles entered the room.

"I think the first victim has been taken," he announced to the room as a whole.

"What?" rang out several voices.

Leaving their breakfasts behind, they followed him into the study. Charlie was sitting at a computer furiously typing away. "He was reported missing last night by his parents. He's local, from downtown," she said when Giles entered the room.

"He?" Dean asked surprised.

"Yea?" Charlie said looking up. "What about him?"

"It's just…" he looked around awkwardly, "when someone uses a virgin for a ritual or a spell, I've just always seen it as a girl."

"Believe it or not, Dean. Men can be virgin's too," Charlie said scowling. A few people threw subtle looks at Dean to see his reaction.

"Right, of course they can," he said lamely.

" _Anyway_ ," Charlie continued to Giles, "his name is Brian Madison. He's 16, and didn't come back from the football game after school yesterday."

"And what makes him different from any other missing people?" Dean asked.

"Nothing in particular, but the route he took home goes right by the Hellmouth. And Willow got a weird vibe last night around the time of the kidnapping. She said it felt like a ripple was coming from the Hellmouth. Like it was more active," Charlie explained.

"When did this happen?" Sam asked.

"Around 11:30 last night," Willow said.

"And you two were together?" Dean asked before he could stop himself. A few people smirked at Willow and Charlie, a couple others looked at Dean with raised eyebrows.

" _Anyway_ ," Giles said echoing Charlie, "so this gives us our first lead on the victims. It means that the demon is willing to take the person as a hostage for a few days. This kid is going to be stuck with this demon for 4 more days, and it's impossible to know how he's going to be treated. Now, he was kidnapped near the Hellmouth, to me, this indicates that he's probably staying somewhere around there. There are a few cemeteries with mausoleums, sewer lines, and some less-than-welcoming motels. He could be staying in any of those locations. I suggest we break the girls into teams to do some recon. Track only, since we need him to finish his ritual."

"And what about the kid?" Dawn asked. "We're not going to just leave him there?"

"I'm open to suggestions of how to make sure that the boy stays ok, and still let the demon finish the ritual," Giles said.

"Let me be taken," said Sam again. Dean and Buffy both groaned.

"I can watch the kid and make sure that he's treated halfway decently until the ritual, and then I can help him escape," Sam said. Everyone looked at Buffy and Dean since they were the only ones who still hadn't agreed to the plan.

 ** _BONG BONG_**

"What the…" Buffy said. Everyone looked surprised. "Are we expecting someone?" Buffy asked the room at large.

"I can get that!" came Andrew's voice from the hallway.

"Andrew, were you standing out there the entire time?" Buffy asked annoyed.

"Umm…"

"Go get the door," Buffy said. They heard him scamper off to the front door as they continued their conversation about Sam being bait.

"Look, I've been through worse," Sam said talking directly to Dean now. "Lucifer's bitch in hell, remember?" A few people gave them quizzical looks at this but didn't say anything.

"I know, but," Dean paused unsure of what to say. Unconsciously, he grabbed the mark of Cain which was urging him to hit Sam into listening to him. Sam noticed this, but didn't say anything, waiting for Dean to finish his sentence.

"Alright, fine. But you take a GPS with you," he said.

"Deal," Sam agreed, relaxing now that something was finally decided.

"Now, hold on just a second," Buffy said staring at Dean now. "You can't just—"

But what he couldn't just, they didn't get find out. "Ummm… Buffy?" came Andrews voice from the hall again.

"What is it, Andrew?" she asked thoroughly annoyed now, looking to the doorway at him.

"There's someone here to see you," he said nervously.

"Who-" she started, but she froze as a figure entered the room. Willow, Dawn, and Charlie all stared at the newcomer. Giles' eye's grew wide, and he looked quickly at Buffy. Dean and Sam were looking at the newcomer, very confused by everyone's reactions.

"Hi, Buffy," he said in his English Accent.

"Who's the Billy Idol wannabe?" Dean asked, trying to break the tension.

After another minute of uncomfortable silence, Dawn spoke, "Spike?"

"Hey, Nibblet," he said turning to her. "Long time."

"Spike! But you died!" Willow said, her eyes wide.

"Uhh… yea. I did. It didn't stick," he said lamely, forcing a small laugh, which died quickly in the tension.

"How long…" Buffy finally said.

"Have I been back?" he asked, finishing her question. He hesitated, "a little under 3 years." He appeared to be bracing himself.

"You've been back practically this whole time?" she shouted suddenly, and she punched him in the face.

Turning back to her, feeling his face, he said, "I wanted to tell you, to see you, but… I don't know… I was afraid to see you again." She hit him again.

Dean turned to Dawn who was standing nearby and said quietly "Old boyfriend?"

Dawn finally tore her eyes away from Spike whom she was still staring at in shock and whispered, "not exactly…"

"What have you been doing this entire time?" Willow asked amazed.

"Uhh… well, for a while I was helping Angel in LA, and then I was trying to help him reclaim LA, but it wasn't possible, so I left. Been floating around since then," he shrugged, turning to face her without taking his eyes off Buffy.

"Angel. Angel knew you were alive and he didn't tell me?" Buffy asked him incredulously. "Did anyone else know?"

"Umm…" Spike hesitated.

"I knew, Buffy," said Andrew boldly, from behind Spike.

"What?!"

"As did I," said Giles. "Andrew told me when he returned from LA to retrieve that slayer."

Buffy spun on her heal to face Giles. "You had no right to keep that information from me!" she yelled.

"I told Andrew not to tell you," Spike said. "And I'm guessing he told the same thing to Giles."

Andrew and Giles nodded their heads.

"Why?" she asked again. When no one answered her, she asked, "How?"

"The amulet," Spike said simply.

"What about it?"

"It, sort of, contained me. After Sunnydale was destroyed, it was sent to Angel, and I was revived, in a manner of speaking – I was more ghost than anything else – but eventually, was made corporeal again. It's sort of a long story," he said.

"One that you could have told me a couple years ago, apparently," said Buffy harshly.

"I'm sorry, love. But I figured you had enough to be going on with, without this old vampire in the mix," he said.

"Vampire?" exclaimed Sam and Dean together. "You dated a vampire?" Dean added.

Spike turned to look at them, "Who are these guys?"

Willow quickly made introductions, explaining that Spike had a soul and didn't eat humans anymore. She turned to him quickly after saying this to make sure it was still true. He confirmed it was. Buffy pointedly added that they never technically dated. Dean and Sam were surprised, but didn't say anything. They had met good vampires before, after all.

"So, after all this time, why are you showing up now?" asked Buffy eventually.

"Angel called. Told me what you were dealing with," Spike said.

"And because you have a soul, you're a potential target for the demon," Willow realized. He nodded.

"And I came to help; I thought it was about time you know the truth," he added.

Buffy turned her back on him. "I don't need your help," she said coldly. There was an uncomfortable silence after this.

"I understand, love. I'll leave, but I'm staying in town until this cools down in case you need me." He turned to Willow, "here's my number. Call me if you need me."

Willow nodded and took the paper he was holding. Dawn stepped forward and hugged Spike, who stood awkwardly in her arms without hugging her back.

"Despite what she says, she missed you, Spike. We all did," Dawn said quietly to him as she let go. He nodded and left. There was an eerie quiet in the room following his departure. Everyone was looking at Buffy waiting for her to say something. Dean wondered what must have happened between a slayer and this vampire to have caused a reaction like this. He was friends with Benny, practically brothers, yes, but he wondered whether he could ever have been with a vampire in that way. He didn't think he could. He also started to wonder about her other ex, Angel, who also had lost a soul and gotten it back. Who was he? Was he also a vampire? Was that Buffy's type?

As he wondered about Buffy's past, he started to wonder why he cared, and he realized that despite their bickering, he kind of liked this girl. She was special. And she understood him. She even understood his need to protect Sam. She treated Dawn the same way that he treated Sam. It must be an older sibling thing, he thought. As he continued to stare at Buffy, he noticed a single tear leak from her beneath her closed eyes. He felt a sudden longing to hold her and make sure she was never hurt like that again. _What is wrong with me?_ he thought suddenly. He shook his head to clear away these thoughts. They reminded him of Lisa.

Buffy suddenly turned to Sam and Dean, which broke him out of his reverie. "Ok, Sam. You can do it," she said.

Sam relaxed a bit, "Thank you."

"Or we could feed Spike to the demon," she muttered to herself. Only Dawn and Dean heard her.

They spent the rest of the day trying to think of the best way to allow Sam to be kidnapped without him getting into too much trouble, or get hurt. By dinner, they decided that Sam would go to the empty warehouse that evening, under which sat the Hellmouth, and wait. They put a small transmitter, which Charlie had designed, in his ear that would allow them two-way communication, and which had a GPS stored within it. It was discreet enough that it was unlikely the demon would find it. Sam had a large dinner as he wasn't sure when he would eat again. He tried to hide the fact that he was nervous, but both Buffy and Dean could see through this, though they didn't say anything.

Sam was talking animatedly with Willow, Charlie, and Dawn through dinner. Not about anything in particular. He did get into a small argument about Ewoks when Xander got back from work. Dawn and Willow were laughing at the ridiculous argument, when Faith came in.

"I hear that we're throwing you to the demon tonight," she said bluntly to Sam. The laughter died quickly. "I also here that blondey is back from the dead?" she added, turning to Buffy.

Neither Sam nor Buffy said anything.

"Never change, Faith," Willow said sardonically. Faith ignored this jab and sat down and pulled a plate to her and began to eat.

"I should get going," Sam said suddenly. Dean tried to convince him, once again that he should have at least a small weapon with him. But everyone else agreed that if the demon found Sam with a weapon, he was more likely to hurt him, or kill him and find someone else.

"Don't lose that transmitter," said Willow. He nodded and left. Dean followed him out.

They walked to the Impala and got in the car. "Are you absolutely sure about this?" Dean asked for the hundredth time.

"Yes, Dean, my mind is made up."

Dean nodded and turned the radio on as they pulled out of the driveway. They rode along in silence all the way to the warehouse, when Sam got out. Dean pulled out a second transmitter and put it in his own ear. "Let us know if you need anything."

"Here," Sam said, pulling out a small vile.

"What's that?"

"My blood, in case something goes wrong and you need it quickly," Sam said. For the first time, Dean noticed, a small bandage on Sam's arm. He nodded and took the vile, tucking it into his jacket pocket.

"Be careful," he said looking seriously at his brother.

"You know me," he said cheerfully. He turned and looked at the warehouse, "nice place." He started walking toward the warehouse. Dean watched him enter the building and then drove off.

"Hey Dean?" came Sam's voice in his ear. That felt really strange.

"Hey Sammy, looks like these things work," Dean said.

"Yup, did you really expect Charlie to do something wrong?" Sam asked.

"No, I guess not."

"This place is really old. Pretty gross. Nothing but beer cans and cigarette butts in this place. This is going to be a long few days," Sam said. "I'm sure you'll know fairly quickly when and if this demon shows up."

"I guess I will," and they stopped talking.

When Dean got back to the house, everyone was fairly quiet. Charlie had set up her computer so that the line from Sam's transmitter fed back to it, and they could hear and track him. They had agreed to check in every hour or so, and the team had set up watches so that someone was monitoring the feed at all times. Dean took the first watch, which is why he had the second transmitter. He was sitting in the study watching the computer showing Sam's location. Nothing had really changed. It appeared as though Sam was pacing around the place, but he wasn't saying anything. Everyone else had gone to bed, at least, that's what Dean thought.

Buffy walked into the room. "Hey," she said.

Dean took the transmitter out of his ear and turned the volume up on the computer. This way they could still hear Sam, but Sam couldn't hear him. He didn't want Sam to think that he was talking to him.

"Hey," he said back.

"Any change?" she asked.

"No. He seems to be pacing around the warehouse," Dean showed her the computer.

"Your brother is quite the man to be volunteering himself like that," she said.

Dean thought for a minute, "He does it a lot more than he should, to be honest." Buffy nodded in understanding and sat down next to him.

"How come you aren't in bed?" Dean asked her.

"Couldn't sleep," she said, "comes with the territory. I'm usually up half the night hunting monsters. These long term monster projects though, I've never liked them. They throw my schedule off."

Dean laughed, "I know what you mean. Whenever there is something big coming, I can't just hunt it. We have to find out what it wants, and why it's here, and how to stop it. Blah blah blah. I'm much more of a hunt it down and kill it kinda guy."

"Gathered that," she said smiling.

"Feel free to not answer this, but I've gotta ask," Dean said. Buffy's smile faltered a little. "That Spike guy's a vampire, right?"

"…yes."

"And you dated him?"

"As I told you before, no, we never really dated," Buffy said quickly.

"But there's a lot more to it, isn't there?" he asked.

Buffy sighed, "Yea, well. Spike used to be really simple. When I met him, he was a monster. Just like hundreds I've killed before and after him. He came to Sunnydale, with his insane girlfriend, Drusilla. He had killed two slayers in the last century, and he was hoping to kill a third."

"He was looking for you specifically?"

"Yea, took my high school hostage during parent-teacher night to do it. But he couldn't kill me, and I couldn't kill him. There was something different about him," she explained.

"You liked him?"

"Oh, hell no." Dean raised his eyebrows at her. "I hated his guts. Everything about him from his stupid coat, to his bleached blonde hair, to his maniacal girlfriend," she said.

"So what happened?" Dean asked.

"Well, basically, my boyfriend at the time—"

"I'm guessing this would be Angel?" Dean interrupted.

"Yea, well, actually he's a vampire too."

"What is it with you and vampires? Any other ex-boyfriend vampires on the list, Lestat or Dracula, maybe?" Dean asked amusedly.

"Dracula doesn't count! That was thrall!" Buffy said defensively.

"Wait, seriously?"

"Anyway, Angel and Spike knew each other from way back in the day, like 1800's back in the day. Old friends actually. Angel sired Drusilla, who sired Spike," Buffy said.

"This is getting complicated," Dean said.

"It gets more complicated," Buffy continued. She spent the next hour talking to Dean about how Angel got his soul, lost it again, got it back again. How Spike had helped her kill him. How Spike got a chip in his head and how he had fallen for her. Dean's head was spinning.

"This is like a really long and bad joke, 'Two vampires and a slayer walk into a bar…'" Dean said.

Buffy realized that she was really opening up to Dean. More than she had opened up to anyone besides her immediate friends recently. She wondered why she felt so comfortable talking about this stuff to him. It's true though that she had left out the more intimate details of her and Angel.

"So how did Spike get his soul back?" Dean asked.

She continued with her story, explaining about how she died, and went to heaven, only to be brought back. How she didn't really feel anything, but Spike made her feel something, so she hooked up with him, even though he was still evil. How she broke it off with him, and he went off to get his soul back. Then she explained how he came back different, now that he had a soul, she fell for him more, but then he saved the world, dying in the process.

"So, that's basically it," she concluded.

"Can I ask a question?" Dean said.

"Sure," said Buffy who had been staring off into space as she retold her story.

"What was so special about these two vampires that would make a slayer fall for them? I'm guessing not many slayers have ever hooked up with vampires before this, let alone two," Dean said.

"None as far as I know. I don't know, Spike always said that it was me, not them. That I made them this way…," she hesitated, "that I 'need a little monster in my man,' was what he said," she said quietly, turning slightly red.

Dean sat quietly for a moment thinking. She was a unique person, that was for sure. _I have a little monster in me_ , he thought suddenly. He shook his head to clear it and started scratching at the Mark of Cain. _I became a demon a few months back_ , he thought. Buffy stared at him. He must have said that last part out lout without meaning to.

"You were possessed?" Buffy asked.

"Not exactly," he rolled up his right sleeve to show her the Mark. He explained how he had gotten it to defeat a Knight of Hell, but that it had turned his soul dark, turned him into a demon. How Sam had had to cure him to get him back.

"Wow," Buffy said. "I didn't know you could cure a demon."

"Honestly, he didn't know for sure that it would work. We'd only ever heard of one person who had successfully cured a demon, and that was back in the 50's," he said.

"We make quite the pair, Dean Winchester," she said smiling at him. He smiled back at her. She was taken aback by the gesture. She had opened up to him, and he had opened up to her. But they weren't those kind of touchy-feely people, she thought. She noticed he was looking at her lips, and she suddenly realized what was happening between the two of them.

"I should go to bed," she said abruptly, getting up. Dean blinked at her, surprised. A muffled cry suddenly came from the computer. Dean grabbed the transmitter and put it back in his ear.

"Sam?"

There was no answer. Dean could hear a muffled scraping sound coming over the receiver. Sam's dot was moving swiftly on the computer to a corner of the warehouse.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked quickly. She sat back down to look at the computer screen with Dean. The dot that was Sam blinked in the corner of the warehouse for several minutes before it began moving back towards the center of the building.

"What's he doing?" she asked.

"I think the demon is probably taking him back to wherever he's staying. It looks like Sam was right, and now he's the demon's second victim," Dean said.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – Passing the Time**

Buffy and Dean didn't go to bed that night. They stayed in the study watching the computer, not saying much. They didn't alert anyone, though, since this had been anticipated. As people began to filter in the next morning, they explained what had happened.

"Now what do we do?" Dawn asked, when everyone had gathered by mid-morning.

"There isn't really anything to do. We wait until Tuesday night, and then we move in," Buffy said.

They spent the rest of the day gathering the ingredients that they needed to kill the demon.

"So, how does this weapon work? Does it need to be poured on a sword? Or does it explode? Or do we have to feed it to the demon or something?" Dean had asked as they gathered the ingredients.

"That's a fair question," Giles said looking at Willow.

"Actually, it has to be mixed together and poured over a bone of one of the sacrificed children," she said awkwardly. "I didn't want to mention it before because it seemed a little… unseemly."

"So we need to break into the morgue and get one of these kid's bones?" Buffy asked.

"Uhh… no, that won't be necessary. I already have 4 bones from the kids," Willow replied not looking at any of them.

"How did you get those?" Dawn asked.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" Willow shot back.

"Not on a Saturday," Dawn pointed out.

"Ah. Right, well, we'll need to file these bones to a point and then pour the mixture of ingredients over it. In order to kill the demon, he must be stabbed with one of the bones. I got four so that we could make multiple weapons, since our window to kill him is so small," Willow explained.

"Good call," Buffy said.

"What about the blood?" Dean asked. "Does that need to be fresh, like it does for the demon?"

"No, I don't think so. Everything I've found says that it just needs to be the same DNA. I had considered using the mother of the boy's blood before I found that out. So, unfortunately, we will need both Sam's blood and the boy's in order to make these things work," she said.

"Well, here," Dean took out the vial from his pocket.

"What's this?" she asked taking it.

"Sam's blood. He thought it might be easier if we had it in advance," Dean said.

"He was absolutely right. That means, we'll only be 1 ingredient short when we go in there on Tuesday," Willow said gratefully.

They mixed the ingredients together as Xander filed the bones into weapons for them. By lunch, there wasn't much left for anyone to do but wait. The spent the day doing various chores around the house and went to bed early. The next day was spent in much the same fashion, with the inhabitants of the house becoming more restless as time went on. As they had previously agreed, someone was watching the computer with Sam's location at all times. They had not heard from him since two nights before. He had also not moved. They assumed that he was being kept unconscious. They tried yelling into the second transmitter several times, but he was not reacting.

It was decided that the best thing to do for the inhabitants of the house was to go do something. Willow, Charlie, Dawn, Andrew, and Xander took most of the girls and went to a club for the evening. Giles, wanting nothing to do with that, stayed in his room reading. Faith had taken the night watch in the study and was focused on the dot that represented Sam.

Dean announced that it had been too long since he'd killed something and he wanted to go hunting. Buffy agreed and they decided to go patrol a local cemetery and maybe kill some bad guys. Pulling out of the driveway, the Impala roared as Dean drove it down the road. They didn't say much as they arrived at a large cemetery nearby.

Dean pulled a machete out of the truck and held it in his hand as they walked through the gravestones. Buffy had a stake up her sleeve, but otherwise wasn't carrying a weapon. Quietly and expertly, they made their way through the graves, expecting to find a creature at any moment. However, after almost 30 minutes, they had run into nothing and had begun to think that it would be an uneventful night. They were approaching the back of the cemetery near some woods, when Buffy spotted a flickering light coming from under the door to a large mausoleum. She pointed it out to Dean who nodded. They approached the door from opposite sides. Dean had his gun ready, and Buffy had pulled out her stake. She signaled a count of three, and at her sign, Buffy pushed the door open and Dean jumped inside closely followed by Buffy.

Several screams met their ears as half a dozen teenagers scrambled to get away from them as fast as they could. Several of them were still holding beer bottles, although at least one of them had dropped theirs, resulting in broken glass on the floor. Dean spotted at least one lit joint desperately trying to be concealed. Buffy and Dean both lowered their weapons and looked at each other with annoyed faces.

"Get the hell out of here," Dean barked.

The teens bolted as Dean and Buffy flattened themselves against the dirty walls. "Hey! Look! They left their cooler," Dean said cheerfully. Turning the small electric lantern that was sitting on a tomb to max, Dean opened the abandoned cooler to find it filled with unopened bottles of beer. "Maybe tonight won't be a waste after all," and he jumped on a tomb and opened one of the beers and took a swig.

Buffy shook her head at him. "Seriously?" she asked.

"Oh lighten up. There are clearly no monsters or demons in this cemetery, we might as well enjoy ourselves, since these poor beers have been abandoned," Dean said, feigning sadness as if they were lost puppies. Buffy scowled but sat down across from him on a folding chair the teens must have brought. Dean threw her a beer, which she caught and opened.

After a few minutes, she said, "aren't you worried that we haven't heard from your brother yet?"

Dean, who had been enjoying his beer, frowned at her. "Nah, I'm sure he's fine. He's been in far worse situations."

"Like being 'Lucifer's bitch'?" she asked.

"That would be one of them," Dean said.

"Care to explain that?" she asked.

Dean told her about how they had been chosen as Michael and Lucifer's vessel's and how it had resulted in Sam going to hell. Buffy listened intently as she finished her first beer and moved on to another that Dean had promptly handed her. After an hour, they were both sitting on the tomb, and were swapping monster killing stories.

"So, you're telling me, that after all that, he disappeared and ended up a married werewolf?" Buffy asked laughing.

"Yup, the guy was so strange. But he grew on me," he smiled.

They laughed for a minute and then both went silent. The cooler was now almost empty, and Buffy had lost count of how many drinks Dean had given her, or had drank himself. She did know that he must have had twice as many as she did. Their pile of bottles had grown significantly in the corner of the mausoleum.

Dean suddenly frowned and looked through the glass ceiling at the stars. Buffy mimicked his move. "Sometimes, it feels like it's too much, doesn't it?" he asked her quietly. "Why do I have to save the world? Why does it always come down to me?"

"I know what you mean," she said lowering her gaze. "Sometimes, you just want to throw in the towel and let the end come."

Dean nodded his head. "So why do we keep fighting?" he asked.

"For them," she said looking at him. "For Dawn, and Sam. For Willow, Xander, and Giles. We have to keep going so that they can keep going."

"Sam once told me that if it came down to it, he would let me die if it meant saving the world. But I could never do that. I stopped him from closing the gates of hell for good, because it would have meant his death. I've been protecting this kid since I was 4 years old, I couldn't just let him die," Dean said.

"Dawn wasn't originally my sister," Buffy said.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked confused.

"Originally, she was a green ball of energy, thousands of years old. She was called 'The Key'," Buffy explained.

"And what was 'The Key'?" he asked.

"It was essentially the key to all dimensions. If used, it would break down the walls to every dimension in the universe. Hell dimensions, Heavenly Dimensions, everything. It all would have spilled out unto the Earth. There were these monks that were charged with guarding the key, but they came under attack by this hell god named Glory. Real bitch of a thing, very cheerleader like – great fashion sense though... So, in order to protect the key, these monks made it human using my own DNA, and sent it to me in the form of a little, bratty sister. She came to me at around 14, and me and everyone around me had false memories planted in our brains by these monks. We had no idea what she was, and neither did she. She got false memories too. Didn't go over well when she found out that she wasn't originally human," Buffy said calmly.

"Wow, that must have been a hell of a revelation," he said.

"It was. But, she was still my sister. I had memories of 14 years of growing up with her. Playing games, having dinners, watching my parent's divorce and helping each other through that. She was my sister, and being 'The Key' didn't change that. I love her. But Glory was determined to use the key to break down the walls so she could go back to the hell dimension she called home. So, she kidnapped Dawn and used her to open the gates of hell," Buffy explained.

"How did she survive?" Dean asked.

"Well, the way it worked was that her blood opened the gates, so when her blood stopped flowing, they would close. So, they cut her with very shallow cuts, so the blood would flow longer. Dawn was ready to kill herself in order to stop it, but I wouldn't let her. I realized that because she had been made using my own DNA, that my death would also end it. So I killed myself instead," she said quietly.''

"Following which, you went to Heaven, only to have Willow resurrect you?" Dean asked having heard that part of the story earlier.

"Yup," Buffy said.

"When I died for my brother, I went to hell," Dean said.

"What?"

Dean explained about how Sam was chosen by the yellow eyed demon to lead his army. How he had died in the battle to become that general, and in turn, Dean sold his soul to a demon in order to revive Sam.

"Wow, we really are alike," Buffy said, when he finished. Dean nodded. They sat quietly for a moment, each in their own thoughts. The room was spinning slightly to Buffy, who didn't usually drink much.

"We should probably go back to the house," Dean said.

"We probably shouldn't drive," Buffy pointed out.

"Valid point. I suppose we could call Giles and have him pick us up?" he proposed.

"That's like calling Dad to admit that I got too drunk, when I was supposed to be working, to drive home. No," she said flatly.

"What about Xander or Willow?" Dean thought.

"Nah, I say that we just stay here. We could walk around the cemetery to shake it off, until you're okay to drive?" she suggested. "You don't seem too out of it."

"I don't show it, but trust me, I shouldn't drive right now," he said.

"Ok, then let's go for a walk," and she promptly jumped off the tomb, swayed slightly, and grabbed the wall for support. He followed her off the tomb and grabbed her shoulders as she steadied herself. "Thanks," she said and he let go.

She pulled the door open with a little more force than was necessary and it swung open so fast it slammed into the wall of the building, cracking it. "Oops!" she said. Dean blinked at her but said nothing and followed her out into the cold air, closing the door to the mausoleum behind him. Buffy started walking in a random direction, and Dean followed her. They didn't say much, walking for a long time, but sometimes Buffy would stop in front of a grave and read the name. Dean wondered why she did this. As they approached one corner of the cemetery, she stopped in front of another grave.

MARGARET PETERS

April 9, 1887 – July 15, 1912

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

"She is, though," Buffy said quietly.

"What?" Dean asked confused.

"Forgotten. This woman died over 100 years ago, and I highly doubt that anyone alive remembers her, or even knows her name. She was 25; far too young. She probably didn't even have any children to pass on her story," Buffy said thoughtfully, looking at the nearby graves for matching surnames. There weren't any. Dean didn't say anything.

"I wonder how she died," Buffy said sadly.

Suddenly Dean was thrown forward into Margaret's gravestone, hitting his head. He landed on the ground with a _thump_. Shaking his head slightly, confused, he rolled onto his back to see Buffy trying to stake a Vampire, who was laughing at her. She clumsily threw a punch at him, which he easily dodged and kicked the stake out of her hand. Dean jumped up, allowing adrenaline to kick in and kicked the vampire in the chest. Taken by surprise, the vampire land on his back. Buffy grabbed her stake and stabbed at the vampire, who rolled out of the way just in time. Getting back to his feet quickly, he looked at the two of them, Buffy with stake in hand, and Dean, who had managed to hold on to his machete, frowned, and took off running into the woods. Dean scowled, but Buffy took off after him.

Groaning, Dean followed her into the trees. The vampire was extremely fast, too fast for Dean, but Buffy was gaining on him. He marveled at her speed. Despite being drunk, her instincts must have kicked in, Dean supposed. He watched as she got close enough to the vampire to push him into a tree. Hard. The vampire fell to the ground as Buffy pulled him back up, punching him in the face, but keeping hold of his shirt. Just as Dean had caught up to them, ready to cut its head off for her, she drove her stake into the vampire's chest, causing it to burst into dust. He blinked at the spot where the vampire had been.

"They really do turn to dust. That's awesome," he said smiling. "I wonder if they're a different breed?"

Buffy, who was breathing hard, dropped the stake she was still holding. She slowly turned toward him with a strange look on her face. Dean didn't know what to make of it, but it made him nervous. He took a few steps back, but then she smiled at him.

"You're bleeding," she said pointing to his forehead. Dean rubbed his sleeve over the spot she indicated, sure enough, he could feel a deep cut. She stepped toward him, and reached up to touch the cut herself. "Shouldn't need stitches though," she said touching it gingerly. He grabbed her wrist as she lowered her hands. Suddenly, she had pushed him up against a tree and was kissing him. He could taste her strawberry lip gloss, and smell her vanilla perfume. Her hands were on his neck forcing him into the kiss. Extremely confused by the turn of events and despite his instincts to never push a drunk girl away, Dean grabbed her shoulders and forced her back. She tripped slightly, but he held her up; her lips were still pursed.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, surprised. She didn't say anything, but blinked at him confused, as if _she_ didn't even know what she had done.

They stared at each other for a minute. Dean was tempted to take her back in his arms and continue what she had started. _Is that such a good idea, though_? a voice in his head, which sounded like Sam, asked him. _Yes, idjit_ , came another voice in his head, which sounded like Bobby. He shook these thoughts away, and almost grabbed her, when music suddenly broke the silence. Lady Gaga's _Born this Way_ was coming out of Buffy's pocket. Breaking her gaze with Dean, she pulled out her phone.

"Hey Will, what's up?" she said answering the phone. Her eyes widened as she listened to Willow. "OK, we're on our way back," she said and hung up the phone.

"They heard from Sam, he's talking," she said. "Are you ok to drive yet?" He nodded and they ran back to the cemetery and the car. As they got into the car, Buffy looked awkwardly at Dean, who was very focused on starting the car. Dean didn't turn the radio on, and while trying to get back to the house quickly, was extremely careful about this driving. He wasn't entirely sure he was completely sober, and suspected if he was pulled over he might not pass a Breathalyzer. It would be close. Fortunately, they only had about a five minute drive to get back to the house. He breathed a sigh of relief when it came into view.

As they approached the house, Buffy said, "Listen, Dean…"

"Forget it," he said. She cast a sidelong glance at him, but didn't continue. They parked the car and quickly walked through the house to the back office they had been working in all week. It was quiet, as it was very late at night (or very early in the morning), so most of the girls were already asleep. When Dean and Buffy walked into the study, they saw that most of the Scooby Gang was already there, listening to Sam who talking through the computer.

"So, you think we're in the basement below the warehouse? That Brian kid is still unconscious. We're both tied up, and since I only just woke up, I'm not sure how long I've been here," he said.

"Sam, it's been almost two days," Willow said, who must have been wearing the second transmitter. Seeing Dean and Buffy walk in, she said, "hold on a second, Sam, your brother's here." She reached into her ear and pulled out the tiny electronic device. Taking it from her, he put it into his own ear.

"Hey Sammy," he said.

"Dean! You went hunting without me, didn't you?" Sam asked, with a little bitterness in his voice.

"It's not like you were here to join me," Dean said, keeping it light. Willow cleared her throat pointedly. "Right," Dean said, catching on. "Sam, what's going on over there, it's been 2 days since we've heard from you."

"Yea, I think he must have kept me unconscious. I don't remember much, just walking around the warehouse and then everything went black and I woke up here. Willow said that my GPS indicates that I'm still in the warehouse," Sam said.

"That's what it looks like, yea," Dean said. "Where is the demon now?"

"Not sure, I haven't even seen him. He must have knocked me out from behind. Must have dosed me with something to keep me asleep that long though. Oh, wait a second. I think the kid is waking up. Hey, hey! Wake up! Brian? You're Brian Madison, right? Yea, hi, I'm Sam Winchester… What's the last thing you remember?" There was a long pause. "So, you've been asleep since you were taken too. Whatever he was using to keep us unconscious seems to have worn off. Listen, we're going to get out of here, but it's going to take some time, and you're going to have to be very brave in the next few days... There's a demon who's kidnapped us for a ritual... Yes, a demon. It's ok, it's ok. Calm down…. Yup… And I've got friends who are working on it, ok? But they can't rescue us yet… Because in order to stop the ritual they have to let the demon think that he's finished the ritual." They could hear faint yelling in the background. "Stop yelling, no one can hear us. We're in that big abandoned warehouse that you passed on the way home. The only one who might hear us is that demon, and let's keep him away as long as we can… Yea… Good… Hey Dean – I told you, I have friends working on this – they're listening to us right now, and I have a GPS tracker on me so they can rescue us when the time comes… OK. Hey Dean. We're both okay here, Brian's wants to work with us to make sure we get out of this okay. Have you been able to make the weapon?"

"Yea, you were right about giving us your blood ahead of time, we were able to use it for the weapon. The only thing we're missing is the boy's blood. Is there any chance that we could meet up with you and get that ahead of time, without the demon finding out?" Dean asked.

"Not sure how long this thing will be away, but we can try, you'll just have to be damn careful. Hey Brian…" and they listened as Sam explained to the boy about their plan and how they were going to need his blood in order to kill the demon that had kidnapped them. Suddenly, his voice cut off and they heard more scuffling.

"Who are you?" they heard Sam ask. "Why did you bring us here?" They heard a small grunt as it appeared that Sam had been struck in the face. "OK, OK, so you don't want to talk." Another grunt. "How about some food? If you're planning to keep us, shouldn't you at least supply a bit of food? Hey! Where are you going? He's gone guys."

"That was smooth, Sam. Next time, why don't you ask for him to put you up in the luxury sweet instead of the basement?" Dean asked.

"Maybe I will," came Sam's voice, amused.

" _Is_ he going to give them food?" Buffy asked Dean, who relayed the question to Sam.

"He didn't really answer me. If you guys are going to swing by and take some of Brian's blood, could you maybe bring a few granola bars, something small that we can keep in our pockets?" Sam asked.

"You're hands are free?" Dean asked surprised.

"Yea, we're tied to chairs, our legs are bound, but the rope is tied around our chests, under our arms," Sam explained.

"Well, that was nice of him," said Xander suspiciously.

"Hey! Welcome back," Sam said cheerily. "Well aren't you just the nicest host. Water, sandwiches, and even a bucket. How kind of you." Another grunt. "Hey, c'mon lets at least try to be friendly with each other if we're going to be your prisoners. What are you doing?" There was a pause. "Seriously? Huh… thanks."

After another minute, he said, "he's gone, guys. He untied us and left. The door is sealed though. No way, I'm breaking through that. There aren't any windows either. I'll start investigating this place, see if I can find any weakness. Not sure if you'll be able to get in to get some blood from Brian though. OK – Brian says that he's tired and is going to try to sleep. Personally, sleeping for two days is plenty of sleep for me. What time is it?"

"It's almost 3am on Monday morning," Dean said checking his watch.

"Huh, and we have until the moon rises Tuesday night, right? …OK. Why don't you guys rest up too? I guess I'll try to sleep a little and I'll touch base with you guys again in the morning?" Sam asked.

Buffy nodded at Dean, who also agreed. Dean took the transmitter out of his ear, "Who's watch is it?"

"Mine," said Xander, raising his hand. He took the transmitter from Dean and sat down in front of the computer.

"Sleep's a good idea. We should all go to bed. We'll regroup at 9?" Buffy said. They all nodded and left. Buffy and Dean were the last ones out. Buffy noticed Willow and Charlie casting looks their way as they headed off. Dean noticed that Charlie was not going back to her room with the other Slayers but was instead following Willow to her room. He winked and nodded at Willow, smiling. Charlie cast a guilty look back at him, but smiled too. Then she mouthed, "she's so hot, right?"

Grinning, Dean walked back to the room he was staying in. He felt slightly uncomfortable in here, as it was clearly a college girls room. There were stuffed animals on the bed, and a large poster of Johnny Depp on the wall. Dean tried not to let it freak him out as he pulled off his boots, and threw his jacket over a chair. He took off his shirt and pants, as he preferred to sleep in his boxers when Sam wasn't around when he heard a soft knock at the door. Suspicious, Dean pulled his pants back on and opened the door to see Buffy looking back at him. She was wearing a pink tank top with matching shorts and slippers. Her hair was tied back in a loose bun. She was clearly getting ready for bed when she decided to come by. She glanced at his bare chest for a minute before her eyes flickered back up to his face.

"Oh, hi," he said awkwardly.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

Surprised, he opened the door to let her in. Unsure if this was a good idea, he closed the door behind her.

"Look, I really want to apologize for my behavior in the cemetery. There's a reason I don't drink much. It tends to get me into trouble," Buffy said quickly. She was rambling a little, and Dean suspected that she might still be a bit tipsy. She was staring at his abs. He raised his eyebrows at her. She turned slightly red, and began to walk back toward the door, but he stopped her.

"It's okay," he said pulling her close to him. He held her shoulders, while she stared at his chest, which she was eye-level with. She was much shorter than him, but he thought it made her cuter. And more impressive when it came to her strength. He realized that he might still be feeling the alcohol too, but he didn't really care at the moment. She looked up into his face, and he gazed back at her. He reached up and pulled her hair out of the bun, letting the long blonde locks fall down to her shoulders. He moved his arm, the one with the mark of Cain around to the front of her face, and he ran his thumb over her lips. The Mark of Cain was calling on him to be more physical. She had pushed him up against a tree before. He should repay her for that, it said to him. But he ignored the thoughts it was bringing into his head.

He held her chin in his hand and he forced it upward as he bent down. She allowed the motion, and she closed her eyes and his lips found hers. She stood on tip-toe to reach him better as she responded to his kiss. He felt her arms move around his body as one hand pressed on his back, the other on his neck. He responded by putting one hand in her hair, feeling the softness of it. His other hand found her waist, moving her closer to him; their bodies pressed together. He opened his mouth to deepen the kiss, and he felt her lips part, consenting to the move.

Dean was slowly moving the hand on her waist up her back, under her tank top. Suddenly realizing what they were doing, she pushed him away from her, staring. "What are we doing?" she asked him quickly.

Grabbing her hand and pulling her back to him, he smiled and said, "shut up."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – Protecting Their Investments**

 ** _BANG BANG BANG_**

"Hey Dean! Are you awake? I really need to get into my room, can I come in?" Dawn called through the door.

Buffy sat up very suddenly, holding the sheets over her chest. Dean blinked and looked around. Seeing Buffy, he remembered what happened the night before. "Just a minute," he called back through the door. Looking at the clock, he realized that he and Buffy had overslept and it was almost 9am. Buffy had pulled the sheets with her off the bed and was now scrambling for her clothes, which were in a pile on the floor. Pulling on her tank top and shorts, she looked around the room; there wasn't a closet. Dean thought she must be looking for a place to hide, and sure enough, she was staring at the bed, possibly wondering if she would fit under it. Pulling on his pants, he looked at her inquisitively. She dove under the bed with a panicked look on her face. Dean rolled his eyes, _Is she seriously hiding from her sister?_ he wondered vaguely. Then he remembered that this was Dawn's room. _Oops_ , he thought guiltily. _Oh well_.

He pulled the door open, "Hey Dawn, what's up?"

"Hey," she said. She mimicked Buffy's gaze as his bare chest from the night before, before she continued, "I need some more clothes. I didn't grab enough when I moved rooms. Mind if I grab some real quick?"

Dean looked around, the dresser was right next to the bed, under which Buffy was hiding. "Uh… yea, of course," and he moved out of the way to let her into the room.

"I'm surprised you didn't get up earlier," Dawn said conversationally, opening drawers. "The last few days, you were always up before me. I wasn't even entirely sure you ever slept." She giggled. "You know, it's the strangest thing," she said, turning to face him, with a handful of various articles of clothing. "Buffy never came to bed last night. I'm guessing she went back out hunting after we talked to your brother last night." She shrugged, "she does that sometimes when she's stressed. Oh well. Well, anyways, Thanks!" She waved and left the room. Dean closed the door behind her.

Buffy crawled out from under the bed with a disgruntled look on her face. "What the hell were we thinking?" she asked him.

Dean looked at her with an amused look on his face. "Are you ashamed of me?" he asked with mock offense.

"This is Dawn's room! Dawn's bed!" she said scornfully to him. He nodded awkwardly.

"Damnit, this is your fault!" she said.

He looked at her with surprise, "Umm… you kissed me first, remember? And I don't remember any complaints from you…"

"Hmph," she scowled. She went to the door and pulled it open slowly, peering out into the hallway. When she confirmed that the coast was clear, she turned back to Dean and pointed into his face, with a stern look, "Don't tell anyone!" She turned and opened the door to leave, but Charlie was standing in her path, hand raised ready to knock on the door.

"Oh!" she said in surprise. "Buffy!" she noticed Buffy's red face and wrinkled pajamas, and then saw Dean, still shirtless over her shoulder. "Oh my Joss!" she said gleefully.

"No, no! Charlie, this isn't what it looks like," Buffy began.

But Charlie was squealing, "Willow was right! You two, together!"

"Shut up, Charlie!" Buffy said sternly, trying to hush her. "You can't tell anyone."

"Why?" Charlie asked, legitimately confused. "You're both adults, and honestly, anyone who didn't see this coming is Daredevil." Buffy and Dean both looked at her confused. "Blind!" she clarified.

"Just don't say anything," Buffy said again.

"Not even to Willow?" Charlie asked.

"No!"

Charlie pouted a little bit, "Fine, well anyway, everyone noticed that the two of you were missing for the meet at 9am. That's why I came here, to find Dean."

Buffy nodded, and Dean said, "We'll be right there, Charlie. Thanks." Behind Buffy's back, Dean winked at Charlie, who grinned and turned back down the hall. Buffy flew after her without another word and had turned the corner toward her own room before Dean had even gotten to the door.

Shaking his head, he grabbed a shirt from his bag and threw it on. Then he left the room and went to the study where everyone was waiting for him. Walking in, he looked around and noticed that Buffy still wasn't here. Charlie caught his eye and grinned again. He could stop himself from grinning back. Willow, noticing this turned to Charlie and whispered something in her ear. She closed her eyes and shook her head, her lips in a tight line. Willow squinted at her and then looked back at Dean as Buffy walked in. Willow, seeing Buffy, looked back at Dean, with eyes wide and a triumphant grin on her face. Buffy noticed this, and threw Willow a dangerous look. Turning almost as red as her hair, she looked back down at her computer; she was still grinning.

"Excellent, now that everyone's here, we can go over the plan," Giles said. Buffy walked to the corner and sat down on the couch next to Xander, not looking at anyone.

"Sam, can you talk?" Charlie asked. She must have the transmitter.

"Yes," came his voice out of the computer.

"Did you manage to get any sleep?" Charlie asked him.

"A bit. It's a little cold down here, but it's not too bad," he said cheerfully. "Having food and water helps," he added.

"Glad to hear it. Have you seen the demon since last night?"

"No, we've been playing tic-tac-toe in the dirt down here. I inspected every inch of this room. The door is the only way in or out. We both tried to push it open, but nothing. You might have more luck on the other side, though," Sam said.

"OK, with your help, a small group is going to try to come down to find you both, and get some blood from Brian, assuming he's still willing to stick around?" Charlie asked.

"Brian, you understand that if my friends come find us, you and I still have to stay here until tomorrow night, right? He understands," Sam confirmed.

"Great. So, Willow, Buffy, and Dean will be coming down there for you. Me, Giles, Xander, Faith, and Dawn will be scouting the outside of the warehouse to keep an eye on everything to make sure that they get in and out alright. Does that work for everyone?" she added, looking to the group at large. Everyone nodded except Buffy.

"Wouldn't Willow, Faith, and I make a better team?" Buffy asked the group. There were a few raised eyebrows at this.

Dean looked at her in surprise, "Got a problem with me going?" he asked.

"No, No," she said quickly not meeting his eye. "I just think, given the risk that two slayers is safer than one. Faith, does that work for you?"

"Five by five," Faith said shrugging.

Dean looked at Faith confused, but continued to address Buffy, "He's my brother, I'm going."

"Dean's right, Buffy. He knows his brother the best, and I think it's better to have Faith on the outside, in case trouble arises," Giles said, gazing at her.

"Fine, fine. I just thought…. Never mind," she added lamely slouching in her seat looking grumpy. Dean watched her curiously, _is this because of last night?_ he found himself asking. He noticed Charlie was watching him with raised eyebrows. He shrugged.

"Ok, Sam, it's settled. We'll be at the warehouse in 20 minutes, we'll check the exterior, and then try to come find you. Let us know if the demon shows up," Charlie said.

"Will do," Sam agreed. Everyone got up to prepare for their respective jobs. Dean ran to the bathroom to take a 1 minute shower, and put on some clean clothes. He found everyone except Buffy waiting in the hallway.

"Since there are 8 of us, we'll need to take 2 cars. Xander, do you mind driving?" Willow asked.

"You know me, happy to help," Xander said cheerfully.

"And Dean, I gather you like to drive, so do you mind taking the other group?" Willow continued. He shrugged noncommittally. "I'll take that as a yes," she said. "Anyone know where Buffy is?"

"She said she was going to take a quick shower," Dawn said. "I think she had a rough night." Willow and Charlie both smirked and had to turn away from each other to keep from laughing. Willow caught Dean's eye, and her smile grew wider. He shrugged again. They waited a couple more minutes, and Buffy jogged into the front hall. Her hair was still wet.

"Ok, we all here?" she asked.

"We were waiting for you," Faith said pointedly. Giles opened the door and they all followed him to the cars. Willow, Charlie, and Dawn all climbed into Xander's car with him. Buffy tried to squish Dawn into the middle seat in the back, but Dawn pushed her back out, pointing out that there was plenty of space in Dean's car. Dean watched her subtly as she threw an unpleasant look in his direction. Dean climbed into his own car as Giles climbed into the passenger seat. Faith and Buffy were in the back.

"You know, I had a car considerably similar to this when I was younger," Giles said looking around. Buffy, remembering what she had said to Willow when she first saw the car, smiled to herself, despite her annoyance. Dean turned on the radio, but not too loudly, as he had clearly already pissed off Buffy this morning. Although, he still couldn't understand how. "Rock You Like a Hurricane" came up and Giles started nodding his head to the beat.

From the back seat, Faith said, "Turn it up!" Through his rear-view mirror, Dean could see Buffy's look of annoyance at Faith. He turned it up very slightly without saying anything. Driving quickly, there was little conversation in the car. Faith was singing along to the music, and Giles, despite his usual uptight manner, was drumming his fingers on his legs, nodding his head to the beat. Dean continued to subtly watch Buffy from the back. She was looking out the window, apparently transfixed at the sky. Dean assumed she was trying not to look at him.

"What's up, B?" Faith asked, when she noticed this.

"Nothing," Buffy said vaguely, still looking out the window.

Dean was grateful that they didn't have a terribly long drive. He was pulling up to a neighboring road to the warehouse within no time. Xander's car pulled up behind him and everyone got out of their respective cars. The houses on the street were extremely run down. Several of them had boarded up doors and windows. One house, with a broken bay window had a rusty tricycle lying on its side in the front yard. A dog barked loudly from a neighboring street. Dean wondered what the street must have looked like in its prime. Suddenly he realized that he was only a couple blocks away from the motel that he and Sam had originally been staying at. The same motel that they had put Michael Worth up in. Feeling guilty about having forgotten about him, he thought he might pop in on him after they were done here today.

Dean sensed that someone was nearby, possibly watching them. Buffy and Faith seemed to have the same sense as they both suddenly started looking around suspiciously. Dean nodded toward an old muscle car that was parked on the street across from them. The windows were tinted, which was odd for a car so old. Dean noticed Buffy's eyes narrow and she walked toward the car. Faith and Dean followed her as the others watched. Buffy knocked on the window of the driver's seat. The window lowered slowly, it must have been a crank window. Dean couldn't see who was inside the car, but Buffy stuck her face through the window, looking angry. Faith threw a curious look at Dean, who shrugged and looked back at the car. Buffy was talking to whoever was in the car, but they couldn't hear her words. She pulled her head out of the car, and the driver's side door opened. A large black umbrella preceded, a blonde man wearing a trench coat. It was Spike, Buffy's "not" ex.

Buffy turned and walked back to the group as Spike stood under the umbrella, hesitant to follow her too closely. Faith punched him in the arm, not very hard, but pointedly. He looked at her.

"Don't you dare hurt her again," Faith said. She turned and followed Buffy back to the group.

Not entirely sure what to do, Dean turned to Spike and politely said, "uh.. Hi. We didn't really meet last time. I'm Dean."

Spike looked at him up and down. He seemed to be sniffing the air, "So, now it's you, huh?"

"What's me?" Dean asked.

Spike ignored him and walked toward the group, careful to ensure that the umbrella covered him. Dean sighed, realizing there was now another person joining this mission, "awesome." He followed Spike back to the group. Dean noticed Charlie and Willow looking back and forth between himself and Spike. When they realized that he had seen this, they stopped and focused their attention on Giles, who was talking.

"OK, Spike is going to help safeguard the parameter with us, since he apparently wants to help," Giles said, unable to hide his annoyance. "We'll break up into groups of 2 and walk the parameter. Dawn and I will watch the front entrance. Xander, Charlie, I'd like you two to watch the back. Faith, I want Spike and you on the roof. That way you can monitor all sides. Sam, you there?" Apparently Giles was wearing the transmitter now. "Ok, excellent. I'm going to give Buffy the transmitter so you can talk her into the building. Everyone else, please set your cells to walkie-talkie mode and make sure everyone can reach out." They took a few minutes to make sure that their cells phones could all communicate to each other.

"Uh, Rupert," said Spike annoyed. Dean looked around confused at who he was talking to. "Don't you think it's a little sunny on the roof?"

"And I'm sure that we will all mourn your loss, should you spontaneously combust, William," Giles retorted.

Dean blinked, extremely confused by this interaction. He realized that Spike and Giles were talking to each other, but didn't understand the names they were using. He turned to Xander and said quietly, "Rupert and William?"

Without taking his eyes off of Spike and Giles, he whispered back, "Rupert Giles and William the Bloody, AKA Spike."

Dean nodded, mostly understanding now, "Ahh. Thanks Captain."

Xander chuckled at this, which surprised Dean. Looking back at Giles and Spike, he realized that they were still arguing with each other. Giles was maintaining that it was a cloudy day and Spike could easily use his umbrella. Spike was arguing that Giles was just trying to kill him again. After another minute, Buffy stepped between them and told them both to shut up. She turned to Spike and told him to get on the roof and deal with it. Spike seemed to have to stop himself from growling at her.

"Let's get moving," she said to the group at large. Charlie, Xander, Spike, and Faith all turned to go around the other side of the building. Apparently, there was a quick access ladder at the back that would allow Faith and Spike on the roof. The rest of them went the other way toward the front of the building. They weren't saying much, and the tension in the group was palpable. When they got to the front entrance, Dean took a deep breath. He was much more worried about Sam than he was letting on. He hated having Sam in these situations. Buffy, Willow, and Dean went through the front doors, which had a broken padlock on them. Giles and Dawn had disappeared behind some bushes and a rusty dumpster to watch the front of the building.

Walking into the building, Dean pulled out his gun as Buffy pulled out a small one-handed crossbow. The first thing they saw was a large open space. There were large empty storage shelves that rose to the ceiling. Papers, cigarette butts, and beer bottles littered the floor. Graffiti was all over the walls. There appeared to be a small office area off to their left. Willow was holding a tablet, that showed a blueprint of the building. Over the blueprint, she had put the GPS feed from Sam's transmitter. Buffy and Dean flanked her as she directed them toward the rear of the building, where Sam's GPS had stayed for several minutes the night he was taken. They approached the spot but didn't immediately see anything. Dean was surprised that there wasn't more dust or dirt on the floor. It was unfortunate, because it would have made tracking him much easier.

Willow pulled out a small bag. _Is that a hexbag?_ Dean thought to himself, recognizing it. Opening the bag, she pinched a small amount of some powder that was inside and blew it out over the area. The dust spread out much further than a normal powder would have. The area shimmered slightly for a few seconds, and then a square lit up on the floor. Willow said something in Latin and a hidden panel was opened on the spot that had lit up. Willow smiled. Buffy and Willow gazed into the hole as Dean kept his gun up keeping watch. When Buffy straightened up, he gazed down it himself. It looked like an enclosed space entrance. It was dark below, however, and he couldn't see much past a few feet. He pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and shined it down the hole. About 15 feet down, they could see a floor, but not much else. Willow pulled out some more of the same powder and threw it down the hole. She said quietly, "daemon revelare." A breeze blew down the hole following the powder and then blew back up at her.

"No demons down there," she said to them.

Buffy sighed with relief. "Ok, I'll go down first, then Willow, and then you," she said talking to Dean. He nodded. He continued to watch back toward the direction they had come. Being in a corner made it much easier to keep a lookout. "Will, I could use a little light," Buffy added looking into the hole. Willow nodded and said, "modicum lumen est." The dust that had still been blowing around the hole seemed to light up as though they were tiny fairies. Buffy thanked Willow, closed the crossbow, so now it almost just looked like a gun, and put it in her back pocket. Then she proceeded to climb down the ladder. Willow followed her after she had pulled her crossbow back out. Following their lead, Dean stowed his gun and proceeded down the hole. Once he was back with the others, Willow said something else in Latin and the hidden panel above them closed silently. The small lights that Willow had created continued to swirl around them. Dean had to resist the urge to swat at them as though they were flies.

He pulled his gun back out as Willow consulted her tablet again. They appeared to be in a large boiler room. There were several doors on different sides of the room. "This way," Willow said quietly. Buffy led the way through the door on their left and they found themselves in a long hallway, that didn't look as though it had been used in years. Dean noticed that there was dirt and dust on this floor, yet no footprints. Could the demon fly? He pointed this out to the others. Willow smiled at him and muttered more Latin as they walked. Looking behind him, he noticed that they were no longer leaving footprints either. Willow directed them down another hallway and into what appeared to be an old locker room. At the other end of the room, they saw a large steel door, similar to a bank vault door. No wonder Sam couldn't open it.

Confirming his suspicions, Willow said, "They should be right past this door."

"Hey Sam, can you hear me?" Buffy asked, pressing a figure to her ear. After confirming that they were still in contact with Sam, she knocked on the large door and asked if he could hear her knocking. He could.

"This may take some time," Willow said as she approached the door, raising her hexbag.

"Wait," Dean said, stopping her. "Mind if I try?"

Buffy eyed him with doubt, "We don't have a lot of time here."

"Just give me a second to try," he said approaching the door. Willow moved out of the way as he approached the combination lock. Slowly and carefully, he began turning the lock, occasionally, putting his ear to the door. After only little over a minute, he thought he was at the last number, when their phones all went off.

"There's someone entering the building from the back," Charlie's voice said through their speakers.

Buffy pulled out her phone and asked who it was.

"Not sure, but they came out of nowhere, we only spotted them as the back door closed behind them," Xander said.

"Faith, Spike – did either of you see anything?" Buffy asked.

"No, whoever it was, they're either really quick, or able to disguise themselves," Faith said. "Do you want us in there?"

"Not yet, we don't know enough to make any decisions," Buffy said. "Hang tight. We'll let you know."

Willow had been muttering incoherently under her breath during this conversation. "He's coming this way, Buffy. We need to hide if we don't want him to know we're here… if he doesn't already." Buffy and Dean nodded. Privately, Dean was annoyed that he had gotten so close to opening the door. Before they left the room, Dean quickly spun the lock. They quietly ran into an adjoining room, which was filled with broken, and moldy showers. The heard the demon enter the locker room and approach the door. They heard the lock spin and the door being opened.

"Hey, how's it going?" came Sam's voice from the other room. A thud and a grunt told them that he had been hit again.

"Hey, leave him alone!" came another voice. _That must be Brian_ , thought Dean. The demon hit him too.

There was more scuffling, and then the sound of something small being put down. More footsteps told them that the demon was leaving again. He closed the door behind him, but not before Sam had called, "Tell your mother I'll see her tonight!" Dean shook his head, grinning.

The demon scurried away and the door to the locker room closed again. They tried to get a glimpse of the demon as it left, but it was too fast. Buffy pulled out her phone again and told the group outside that the demon was leaving, and they should stay clear. Dean ran back up to the door and began turning the combination dial again. After less than a minute this time, he was able to spin the handle, and pull open the door. Sam was grinning at him from a chair on the other side of the room. He was holding a sandwich, and sporting a bloody lip.

"Dude, why do you feel the need to taunt the demon?" Dean asked him, grabbing his brother's hand, and pulling him into a hug.

"It's funny," Sam shrugged. "This is Brian. Brian, this is Buffy, Willow, and my brother Dean." Brian shook hands with Buffy and Willow, who was now helping Brian, who appeared to have a black eye. He was tall, and well-built, with long brown hair and deep-set eyes. He was checking out Willow as she checked him out.

"Sorry, kid, you're not her type," Dean said, noticing this. Willow chuckled and put some ointment that she had brought with her on a cut over Brian's eye.

"How's he treating you?" Buffy asked them.

"All things considered, not bad. He brings us food and water once a day or so, and has given us a fresh bucket a couple of times. Quite nice of him... Ugly thing, though," Sam said. Dean looked around, there were 2 chairs, a plate of sandwiches, several bottles of water, and a bucket in the corner. "Don't look in that," Sam said watching Dean check out the place.

"Nice digs," he said.

"Ok, Brian, we just need a little bit of blood," said Willow who pulled out a syringe. "This shouldn't hurt too much." The kid nodded and held out his arm. Willow expertly inserted the syringe into his arm and extracted the blood that they needed. "That should do it, I think," she said, removing the needle.

"I'm sorry we have to leave you guys here, but it's just for one more day, and then we'll make sure that this thing gets what's coming to him," Buffy said.

"Here," Dean said pulling something out of his pocket. "A deck of cards to help you guys pass the time." He threw the deck to Sam who caught it and put it in his pocket.

"Thanks," Sam said.

"Here, take these too," said Willow pulling out 2 more small hexbags. "Keep them hidden somewhere he won't find them on your persons. They will help you keep up your strength and even give you a little extra when it's time to escape," she said.

"What are they?" Brian asked, catching his as Willow threw it to him.

"Good luck charms," Willow said simply.

"We should get going, can't linger too long," Buffy said, nodding them toward the door. They nodded.

"Hey," said Brian, looking at Buffy imploringly. "If, something happens to me, can you tell my mom that I love her, and I'm sorry?"

"It won't come to that," Dean said. "Promise. We'll see you guys tomorrow." He hugged his brother again, shook Brian's hand and they left, closing the door on them again.

Feeling like he was betraying all his instincts, Dean locked the door on his brother. Without saying anything to each other, they left the locker room, Willow muttering her spell to prevent them having footprints again.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 – Interviews with a Winchester**

Buffy and Dean were careful to ensure that there was no one watching them as they made their way back through the warehouse. It appeared as though the demon had left. Dean briefly wondered what it could be doing; preparing for the ritual he supposed. They opened the door to the front entrance and Buffy looked around quickly before Willow and Dean followed her. Giles and Dawn made their way to them as they walked away from the warehouse. Pulling out her phone, Buffy informed the other teams that they were going back to the cars. Mission accomplished. Everyone seemed a little more wary than they had before they went to the warehouse. The arrival of the demon while they were there had unnerved many of them.

Dean noticed that Spike was smoking a little and was acting more annoyed than before. He briefly envisioned Faith pushing Spike out from under his umbrella, causing him to almost catch fire. Smiling at this picture, he kept walking toward the car. He wondered why this image of Spike catching fire was pleasing to him. It occurred to him that it actually might have to do with Buffy. Was it possible that Dean, happily single Dean, was jealous of the relationship that this vampire had had with Buffy? _What did she see in him anyway?_ he wondered vaguely. Casting an annoyed, yet curious look at Spike, he realized that Spike had been watching him. _What's his problem?_ Dean thought.

They broke up into the same groups as before for the car ride back to the house. As Buffy was climbing into the back of the Impala, Spike grabbed her arm. "Can I have a word, love?" he asked. Dean noticed several people's eyebrows raise at this, but no one said anything as they all got into the cars. Buffy hesitated, and then nodded her head, following Spike back to one of the dilapidated houses his car was parked in front of. Dean watched for a minute, unsure if he was supposed to wait for her.

Noticing this, Buffy called across the street, "I'll find my own way back. You guys go ahead." Dean nodded and revved his engine. As he drove away, he wondered what Buffy and Spike could be talking about. _Why do you even care?_ he asked himself annoyed. Trying to drown out the troubling thoughts that were now creeping into his mind, he turned the radio on. Turned out that both Faith and Giles had the same taste in music that he did, and he spent a very pleasant, albeit short, car ride back to the house.

Most of the group decided that it was time for lunch, and as Dean hadn't eaten yet that day, he agreed. Andrew had been kind enough to make large quantities of pasta, which was waiting for them when they all walked into the kitchen. He enthusiastically greeted them and began asking a hundred questions about the mission. What was the place like? Could Willow sense the Hellmouth? Did you get the blood you needed? Did the demon show up? Did he look like Sauron? Dean began to tune out his questions around this point. Most of the others had apparently done so much earlier out of habit. Again, he wondered what had brought this guy to be here, and why Buffy let him stay.

"Dean!" Andrew yelled. Dean looked around and realized that several people were staring at him. Andrew apparently had started asking him questions about his brother, their past, etc. Dean having tuned out some time ago didn't realize that he was being spoken to.

"What?" he said, realizing his mistake and facing Andrew.

"I asked about that guy, Castiel. He's an angel, right? Does he actually have wings? How did you meet him?" Andrew repeated.

"Whoa, slow down, Jack McFarland," Dean said, raising an eyebrow.

"My name's Andrew," he said confused.

"All those reference's that you're constantly making, and you don't know who Jack McFarland is?" Willow laughed. Andrew looked at them all confused. A few more people laughed.

"I think a better question is, you actually watched Will and Grace?" Charlie asked Dean raising an eyebrow.

"My ex did. And it sounds like you did too," Dean shot back.

"Ah yes, but I'm not a macho man," Charlie said sarcastically. Xander raised his arms in the air and mimicked Y-M-C-A.

"Shut up," Dean said turning back to his linguini. More laughter. The laughter died down as Buffy entered the room. Her face was stony and she didn't say anything. Looking around at them all, she turned to the now mostly empty bowl of pasta. She grabbed a plate and began to load it up with what was left. Everyone watched her as she sat down and began to eat. After a few bites, she looked up, having noticed that everyone was still watching her.

"How'd it go?" Willow asked hesitantly.

Buffy looked at her and then at everyone else. "Don't really feel like talking about it right now," she said, pointedly ending the conversation. Everyone awkwardly looked at each other.

Andrew turned back to Dean and said, "So, you never answered my question…"

After lunch, everyone went back to the study. Willow finished making the weapons using Brian's blood, and they reviewed the plan for killing the demon and saving Sam and Brian. They would have 6 girls watching the warehouse at any given point starting at dawn the next morning. They would take it in shifts. However, it was vital that they keep their distance, as the demon is not to know he is being watched. Assuming that the demon will have already entered the warehouse before nightfall, Willow, Buffy, Dean, and Faith were going to enter the warehouse at dusk. Xander, Giles, Charlie, and one of the other, older Slayers were to patrol the outside of the warehouse once they're inside. There would continue to be 6 girls at a distance watching the entire facility.

The group inside the warehouse were to wait in the small office area they had noticed before until the demon showed up with the hostages. Giles and Willow were certain that the hellmouth would be opening by the far east wall. There was no basement under that section of the building, so they were sure he would have to perform the ritual on the main floor. This would also give them a good vantage point in the office area, which was very close by. Charlie had managed to make 4 more transmitters and connected them all to each other. This would allow all groups to communicate easily and with Sam. Buffy, Dean, Giles, and two of the outer slayers were to each have one.

Dawn and Andrew both made noises of protest when their names were left out of the groups. Buffy then explained that they were to join the 6 slayers on the outer perimeter, as Buffy needed people she knew well and trusted to manage them. Dean suspected that Buffy didn't want Dawn too close to the main fight, and she just didn't want Andrew there.

While the ritual was being performed, the inside group would quietly leave the office area, keeping to the shadows, and with some luck the demon would be too focused on the ritual to notice them. Even if he did notice them, Giles thought it likely that he would try to finish it quickly instead of interrupting it. Faith was to circle around to the right side of the demon, Dean and Willow directly behind him, and Buffy to the left of him. Once they heard him finish chanting, which marked the end of the ritual, they would rush him from three sides. Dean, Buffy, and Faith would all carry one of the weapons they had made. As a backup plan, Giles would carry the fourth in case the demon was able to escape (or kill) them. Willow had created hexbags that would help hide them from the demons eyes during the ritual, but it had a limited time on it, so it wouldn't last for long. Willow's job was to grab Sam and Brian and get them outside, while Dean, Faith and Buffy fought the demon.

Dean pointed out that Sam would probably want to help fight the demon. They agreed that if he wanted to stay, he could, but Willow would make sure that Brian made it outside alive. Once they were clear of the warehouse, they would hide in one of the abandoned homes on the same side street they had been on that morning. One of the slayers would be waiting there for them.

Dean, Buffy, and Faith would only have about 10 minutes to kill the demon before the hellmouth had opened too wide to close it. Once the demon was dead, they would regroup with the second team at the front entrance to the building, and then meet everyone else at the house Willow would take Brian to. Xander had volunteered to drive Brian home once everything was over.

Once everyone had agreed on the plan, Dean hesitantly asked a question, "What if that Spike guy shows up again?"

There was a pause. Several pairs of eyes jumped from Dean to Buffy. Buffy's nostrils flared, and her pupils dilated at the question. Looking anywhere but at Dean, she said, "Spike said he wanted to help, but I asked him to leave town. However, Spike has a tendency to not listen to me, and he may show up anyway. If that happens, he'll want to be in on the main fight. I think we should let him. _If_ he shows up." Several people nodded, but no one said anything else on the subject.

No one had much more to say on the plan. Several people left to go do other things. Xander decided to go to work for the afternoon, dropping Dawn off at school as she had an afternoon class she wanted to make. Giles disappeared to his room with several books in hand, determined to do as much research as possible before morning. Charlie and Willow both vanished without saying much, Dean noticed.

Dean noticed Buffy leaving fairly quickly after the meeting ended without saying much to anyone. Unsure what to do with himself, he decided to go back to the motel and check on Michael Worth. He didn't think it would be necessary to tell anyone he was leaving, so he grabbed his jacket and keys and left. It didn't take him long to reach the motel, and he knocked on the door, waiting. After a minute, Michael opened the door. His face split into a wide grin when he saw Dean.

"Dean!" he said beaming, opening the door wider. "How are you?"

"I'm alright. Wanted to see how you were doing?" Dean asked stepping into the room. Looking around, he noticed that Michael had a single bag on a chair and a picture on the dresser.

Closing the door, Michael said, "I'm good. Thanks to your generosity, I was able to have a few good nights of sleep and some decent meals for the first time in a long time."

Dean picked up the picture and looked at it. It showed a group of smiling people in front of what appeared to be the Niagara Falls. Michael was grinning in the middle. On his left was a shorter man, with dark hair and bright eyes. His arm was around Michael. The third person was a pretty, Hispanic girl about 12 years old. She had long hair and was wearing a t-shirt that read "I 3 NY." Dean wondered at the "3" until he realized it was a sideways heart. "You're family?" he asked.

"Yea," Michael said sadly. "Mark and Adeline. I really miss them." He looked at the picture for a moment, and then took it from him, putting it back on the dresser. Changing the subject, he asked, "so, how's your current job going?"

"Ok, I guess. One way or the other, it will be over by tomorrow night. Assuming things go our way, we can help you out after that," Dean said.

"Is there anything I can do to help you guys out?" he asked hopefully.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea. And we have plenty of help. I just wanted to stop by and make sure things were okay with you," Dean said, shrugging.

"Oh, they're better than they've been in a long – AHHH," he shrieked suddenly.

"Dean, I've found something," Cass said in his low growl.

"Hey Cass. We're kinda in the middle of a case right now. Can it wait?" Dean asked.

"Who are you? How did you do that?" Michael asked from behind Cass' back. Turning around, Cass looked him up and down.

"I'm Castiel. Who are you?" Turning back to Dean, he asked, "Where's Sam?"

"Not the time, Cass. Sam is… occupied," Dean said evasively. He didn't want to go into his brother's planned kidnapping and the impending apocalypse with Michael or Cass. "Can whatever you've found wait?"

"The Mark of Cain is not something to be taken lightly, Dean. You will turn into a demon again, it's only a matter of time," Cass said darkly.

"You were a demon?" asked Michael with trepidation.

"Not the time," Dean repeated. "Look, Cass, come find me in a couple days, and I promise we'll talk. Ok?"

Cass eyed Dean suspiciously, "What's going on?"

"Never mind, just come back in a few days," Dean said again.

"Ok, Dean," and just as suddenly as he had appeared, Cass vanished again.

"What the heck was that?" cried Michael, still staring at the spot Cass had been standing.

"That would be one of those angels you were trying to call the other day for help," Dean explained.

"Can he help me?" Michael asked hopefully.

"Maybe, but now is not the time. Is there anything else you need for the next day or so?" Dean asked him.

"I don't think so, I still have a lot of the money you gave me. I got used to not spending money, by not having it. But you will be back on Wednesday?" he responded tentatively.

"Yes, if all goes to plan, we can help you out on Wednesday," Dean said. Michael hugged him tightly, and quickly let go recognizing Dean's lack of comfort. They said goodbye to each other, and Dean left.

As he was walking back to the Impala, he felt as though someone was watching him. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and he looked around suspiciously. He didn't see anything, but couldn't shake the feeling. He glanced back at the motel, but didn't see anything apart from Michael watching him through his window. He waved enthusiastically when Dean saw him. Dean awkwardly waved back and figured that was probably what he was feeling, but he couldn't help but think that there was someone else watching him apart from Michael. Michael closed the curtains and stepped away from the window as Dean continued on. Walking quickly back to his car, he subtly pulled out his gun, but still didn't see anything. Turning off the safety, he glanced around before he opened the door to the car. Still seeing no one, he got into his car, started it and was about to pull out of the parking lot, when he stopped. The feeling of being watched had only gotten stronger. Deciding to take action, he turned off his car and got out, gun back in his hand. Opening the trunk, he pulled out a hunting knife, attaching it to his belt as extra protection.

Cautiously, expecting to be jumped at any minute, he walked around the side of the building. There was a large wood behind the hotel. Past that, he knew, were the dilapidated houses near the warehouse located on the Hellmouth. He walked toward the wood, his senses heightened by years of hunting. He wondered if he should call Buffy. However, remembering her coldness this morning, he decided against it. He could take care of himself after all; he didn't need a slayer for help.

Dead leaves crunched under his feet as he approached the dark trees. Despite still being early in the afternoon, the day was dark, and the dense trees made the wood look as though night had fallen under them. He contemplated pulling out the flashlight that he regularly carried with him, but decided he'd rather have a free hand. The dark didn't bother him, and he had good night vision. Suddenly, he thought he saw a pair of bright eyes staring at him from between a couple trees. He blinked and they were gone. Not sure if he had imagined them or not, he headed toward where they had been. A breeze blew through his hair, sending a chill up his spine, only enhancing his sense of foreboding.

He arrived at the spot where he thought the eyes had been, but there was nothing there. He inspected the ground for signs of tracks, but the ground was hard, and he couldn't find anything. Deciding on a direction, he headed further into the woods. He could hear a bird chirping nearby, and saw a squirrel scurrying up a tree as he approached. For almost 30 minutes he continued combing through the woods, not stopping until he discovered a clearing. There was a large rock about the size of a kitchen table in the middle, and lack of grass around it suggested that something or someone frequently visited the area surrounding the rock. He wondered at this. He walked up to the stone, which was a little taller than waist high, and looked around. The sense that someone was watching him had started to diminish as he walked through the woods, as though whoever it was had given up on him. However, as he stood by the stone, he couldn't help but think that there was something off about the place. The stone looked out of place, and the clearing was almost too circler, as though it was designed this way. He rested his free hand on the stone; it was so cold it sent a shiver down his back, and goosebumps appeared on his arms.

He didn't like it; everything about this place was wrong. He removed his hand from the stone and stared at it, transfixed for a minute, before he shook his head and walked back toward the way he came. By the time he came back out of the woods, he still had seen no one, and the feelings he had been having had vanished. Whatever he had been sensing, it was gone now. He turned the safety back on his gun and stowed it. He got back into his car and headed back to Buffy's house.

When he arrived back at the house, he found that everyone was still doing their own thing. He had been gone less than two hours. With still no ideas of what to do with himself, he went back to his room. He pulled out his gun and began to clean it when there was a knock on the door. Wondering if it would be Buffy again, he contemplated taking off his shirt just to mess with her. Resisting this urge, he opened the door to find Faith. She was wearing a zip-up hooded sweatshirt, loose sweat pants, and sneakers.

"I'm guessing you don't know what to do with yourself?" she asked bluntly. He nodded.

"Figured. C'mon, there's a sparring room in the basement, and I'm curious to see what you're made of," she said. Glad that she had given him something to do, he quickly put his gun back together and stored it in a bag. Then he followed her down the stairs toward the kitchen. From the kitchen, she opened a door he hadn't noticed before and she went down another set of stairs. They didn't say anything to each other, and Dean was glad he didn't have to open up with this girl. When he reached the basement, his mouth fell open at the sight that met his eyes. It looked like a small professional gym. There were several workout machines, a large open space with a thick mat on the floor. Weapons of every type littered the walls, and dummies were placed randomly throughout the room. There was also another room adjacent to this one, where Dean could see a polished wood floor, and the entire back wall was covered with one large mirror; an aerobics room.

"Nice setup," he said.

"Yea, Xander pulled out the stops to set this place up," Faith said nodding. Dean looked at her with surprise. "He's surprisingly useful, now that he's a carpenter," she added, shrugging. She took off her sweatshirt, and randomly threw it on one of the dummies. She was wearing a dark tank top underneath, and stepped onto the mat in the open area. "Let's go," she said.

Dean nodded and followed her onto the mat. Without warning, Faith punched him in the face. Hard. He was knocked backwards and almost fell over. He had not expected her to start right away. Regaining his balance, he looked back at her and she had her fists up and was bouncing. He threw a punch at her, which she easily dodged, and knelt down spinning, sweeping his legs out from under him. This time he fell on his back and was grateful for the thick mat.

"Not impressed so far," Faith taunted.

Scowling, Dean quickly righted himself, feigned a jab at her right side and chopped at her left. She took the hit, and used the momentum from it to spin lightly almost elbowing him in the nose. Glad that his reflexes were starting to kick back in, he avoided her elbow by an inch and stepped back. She sprang off her feet, jumping higher than seemed natural and landed with her thighs on his shoulders. She leaned backward, pinching his head with her thighs flipping him over. She landed on her feet, and Dean tucked and rolled, back on his feet in seconds. He didn't get to fight like this often, and he liked it. He ran at her, bending over, preparing to plow into her using his shoulder. Instead, she pushed off his shoulders, jumping over his head, spinning once and landing behind him, where she kicked in his knee.

He fell to his knees, and then fell to the side, rolling onto his back. He was glad he did so, cause just as he got to his back, he could see a lot of dark hair flying toward the spot he had been a second before. He put his hands on the ground by his head and pushed himself back up. She had landed on her hands and he managed to hit her back, knocking her flat. She grunted as her face hit the mat. She pushed herself back up and smiled at him. Then she threw a punch at his stomach, quickly followed by a jab at his face. He managed to block both, but he could feel his arms bruising from the strength behind her attacks. With his arms still up from the blocks, he swung one arm upward, allowing the back of his fist to make connection with the bottom of her jaw. Her head snapped upward, and she stepped back, blocking another punch from him. She stepped backward and swung her back leg around kicking him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

While he tried to catch his breath, she kicked him again, in the side, leaning backward into the kick. He fell sideways and landed on his ass. He scrambled up, but he could feel himself wearing out. This small woman was a lot stronger than she looked. Looking at her, he could see the amusement on her face, and he realized, _she's holding back!_ Unable to control his annoyance at this realization, he ran two steps, stopped quickly, and punched her left shoulder. At the same time, he raised his right leg and hooked it around the back of her own and pulled her knee inward causing her to fall forward, yet spin left as a result of the shoulder hit. She almost fell over, but managed to stay upright, spinning all the way around and throwing a complete roundhouse kick into his chest. He was thrown back several feet and hit the wall, where he slumped down in a pile.

Dazed, he breathed in as much air as he could, while he shook his head, trying to clear the stars out of his eyes that had appeared. She walked over to him. He was barely able to see her, but he could feel her standing over him, and he tried to jump upward to defend himself again, but she pushed him back down.

"Catch your breath, Deano," she said. "You ain't half bad."

He shook his head again, and pushed against the floor to stand back up. The bright dots that had appeared in his vision were starting to dissipate now and he could see her clearly. She was still grinning at him.

"You can put up more of a fight than most guys," she said. "Most guys don't get back up after the first hit, and you actually managed to knock me down." She put a finger in her mouth and felt the inside of her cheek. Pulling her finger back out and looking at it, she added, "and you made me bleed. I'm impressed." She wiped her finger on her pants and grabbed a towel from a stack that was sitting on a shelf nearby. She threw it at him and he caught it. He wiped the sweat off his forehead, and could feel a cut above his eye.

She stepped off the mat and said, "Thanks for the entertainment." She turned and looked at him, winked, and went back up the stairs. Dean blinked after her. If that is what it's like to fight a slayer _and_ she was holding back, he didn't see how the demon stood any chance tomorrow. Throwing the towel in a bin labeled "laundry," Dean went back upstairs too.

Buffy was in the kitchen and was drinking from a bottle of water. There was another one on the counter, which she threw to him when he appeared. Gratefully, he opened the bottle and took a large drink. "Faith didn't hurt you, did she?" she asked. He shook his head, which caused him to see a few stars again. He grabbed a chair and held on tightly as it made him a little dizzy. Buffy noticed this and grabbed his arm. Gently, yet forcefully, she made him sit down at the table and drink more water.

"Sometimes Faith can be a little rough," Buffy said.

"I'll warn Sam," Dean replied. She laughed and sat at the table across from him.

"Not exactly what I meant," she said, grinning. Dean cautiously felt the cut on his forehead. It was still bleeding slightly. "Here, let me look at that," she said standing back up. She walked around the table and stood over him. He was pleasantly aware of how close her chest was to his face. He tried very hard not to look, instead he tilted his head backward and stared at a spot on the ceiling while she examined him. She touched the cut on his head, and pinched the skin together. She stepped away from him.

"So what's the verdict, doctor," he said jokingly, looking back up at her.

She turned her back on him and went over to a cabinet. She had to stand on her tip-toes to reach the shelf she was looking for. Finally succeeding in her goal, she turned around with a first aid kit in hand. Dean looked at her, "I don't think that's really necessary."

"You're still bleeding," she said sternly. She pulled out a bandage and taped it on his forehead.

"Thanks, mom," he said sarcastically when she stepped back. She raised an eyebrow at him, a slight grin on her face. He smiled back at her, which made her falter. Her smile faded and her eyes darted away from his.

Reading her expression, he said, "listen, forget about last night. It's not a big deal." Her cheeks turned red as Andrew walked into the kitchen.

"What happened last night?" he asked curiously.

"Never mind," Buffy said.

"OK," he said cheerfully. "I'm getting ready to make dinner, what does everyone want tonight? I was thinking we might have something a bit more… more, since it might be everyone's last dinner and all. I was thinking Steaks on the grill? What do you think? Not that I'm very good with a grill, I'm better at the oven. Maybe I'll bake them instead. Of course, if we're going to do steaks, I'll need to run out. And if we are having steaks, then we'll need potatoes. What do you think? Boil 'em? Mash 'em? Stick 'em in a stew?" he laughed loudly. Dean raised his eyebrows at him. "If it's okay with you, of course Buffy?"

Buffy shrugged noncommittally at him. Dean stood up, "How 'bout I do the grilling for you? I'm not half bad, and that'll leave you to handle the potatoes?"

"Oh! It would be wonderful for some help. Everyone around here treats me like Bill the Pony. I just haul everything around, and have to be turned around when the wolves attack! But I like to be helpful. Why don't we run to the store and pick up the food?" Andrew asked.

Not wanting to spend any significant amount of time with Andrew, Dean suggested that he could go alone, just make a list. He was worried that if Andrew went with him, he might accidently slit his throat. Andrew made up a list for him and gave him a credit card with the name "Quentin Travers" on it.

"Who's Quentin Travers?" Dean asked curiously looking at the card.

"Old, dead watcher. All the watcher's council funds are still under his name, so we still use it," Buffy explained. Dean nodded, understanding the desire to keeps the significant and suspicious amount of funds they supposedly have off their own personal records.

Grabbing the list of food and the credit card, Dean headed back to his car. Andrew had also written directions to a local Co-Op that according to him had better meat than a regular supermarket. "Local and organic!" he had said enthusiastically. Dean bought 20 rib-eye steaks, effectively cleaning the store out, and 2 bags of potatoes. At Andrew's request, he also bought garlic, sour cream, milk, butter, bread, and prune juice. He figured the prune juice was for Giles. He was glad that he didn't have to pay for this with his own money and he pushed the cart out of the store. It felt strange to him doing something so normal. He couldn't remember having gone grocery shopping since he lived with Lisa.

When he arrived back at the house, Andrew showed him in the backyard where the grill was. It was an extremely large grill, almost industrial and he was excited about doing something so normal. He threw the steaks on the grill while he watched half a dozen girls, ages ranging from 15 to 25 training in the yard. He vaguely wondered if slayers ranged in all ages. From what Buffy he told him, the spell Willow had cast, made all potential slayers into actual slayers. But if there are dozens of potentials for every generation, wouldn't there be some that were never called who made it into adulthood and older? Did that mean that there were little girls still in elementary school who could hit him as hard as Faith? Buffy had said that she had slayers all over the world. They couldn't all be the same age. He figured that for the older ones, they must leave alone since their paths are already set. The younger ones, they must monitor, but leave with their parents, to be trained when their ready? He found himself very curious as he watched the young woman throwing punches and kicks. One of the younger ones noticed him watching her and giggled, only to be punched in the face by her partner.

Dean realized that he was probably causing more problems than he should and he refocused on the steaks. Not sure how everyone would like them, he made some rare, some well-done, with most somewhere in between, figuring people could choose. Before long, he had a large pile of steaks that smelled amazing. His mouth began to water as he carried the large tray back into the house. Andrew was just finishing what turned out to be garlic mashed potatoes as he walked into the kitchen. Several girls, Dawn, Xander, and Faith were sitting at the kitchen table already. As Dean set down the tray, there was a mad rush to grab some. Dean had to jump out of the way as a 14 year old girl attacked the tray he had been holding with a large fork.

"I'm starving!" she said apologetically to him. Grabbing plates and each grabbing either a whole or half a steak, they loaded up the rest of their plates with potatoes that Andrew had brought over to the counter.

"Do we have any A1?" one girl, who looked to be about 21 asked. Andrew quickly produced a large bottle from the fridge. "And how 'bout a beer?" she added hopefully.

Andrew gave her a stern look. "Bridgette, A. You're not 21 yet. B. We have an important mission in the morning that will require you're full attention, so no drinking tonight. And C. There's no beer in the house." Bridgette scowled at him and took the Coke that he handed to her instead. When Andrew turned his back, Dean subtly poured a very small amount of the Jack he had in his flask into her Coke, winked, and shook his head so she wouldn't say anything. She grinned at him and went back to the table. He took a quick drink directly from the flask as well, when no one was watching.

Grabbing a plate for himself, he took one of the more rare steaks from the pile, and added some potatoes to it. Sitting down, he began to eat, pleased at how the steaks had come out. Conversation around the table had dwindled as they ate, apart from several comments and agreements that the steaks were excellent. People begin coming in and other's left as the evening went on. Dean noticed that some of the girls looked nervous about the next day.

By the time Buffy came down for dinner, there was only a half a steak left. She confirmed with Andrew that everyone else had already eaten before she took it. She had to throw it in the microwave for a minute; it had been sitting for so long, it had gotten cold. Dean decided to leave her alone, since she was clearly uncomfortable around him now, so he went back down into the basement, thinking he might try out some of the weapons on the walls. Some of the girls were already downstairs now doing aerobics in the next room, and 2 girls were on Ellipticals. Charlie was on the bench press. Going over to her, he looked at the weights on the bar. She was benching over 300 lbs. He felt slightly insignificant that that.

Seeing him walk over to her, she put the bar back on the bench and sat up. "Hey bitch!" she greeted him cheerfully. "Getting ready for tomorrow?" He nodded. "Now that I don't have to pretend I'm weak around you, you wanna fight?" she asked.

He eyed her, "no, thanks. Faith already kicked my ass once today. I don't need another Slayer bruising me up."

She chuckled, glancing at the cut above his eye, "I wondered what had happened. She stood up, wanna go for a walk instead? I hate sitting around and waiting." He nodded and followed her back upstairs.

They left the house quietly, and no one stopped them as they headed up the driveway toward the road. Walking silently along, they turned up the road heading in no particular direction. "So… you and Willow?" Dean asked after a minute, smirking at her.

She turned slightly red and looked back at him, "Yea… she's really hot. And really talented."

"I didn't need to know that – wait, yes I do – tell me more," Dean laughed.

"Not like that," she said. "I mean with the magicks. Truthfully, I never really noticed her the last time I was around. She was with Kennedy at the time anyway."

"Kennedy?" Dean asked curiously.

"Another Slayer, well Potential at the time. She was bossy, and seemed to think she was in charge of the other Potentials. Got annoying. I guess it didn't end well with her and Willow. Sounds like she's heading up another team of Slayers in South America now," Charlie explained. Dean nodded and they continued walking. "And… What about you and Buffy?" she asked. It was her turn to smirk at him.

"I don't think there's anything there," he said, becoming annoyed.

"Oh c'mon man! She's totally into you. And I know you're into her. You'd have to be an idiot not to be," she said.

"I'm pretty sure that last night was it for us," he said. "She's been giving me the cold shoulder all day."

"Well, of course she has. She's a chick! You know women, can't live with 'em, and all that. Amirite?" Charlie asked. He chuckled. "Don't worry about it, she'll come around when she realizes the kind of guy you are."

"And what kind of guy am I?" he asked amused.

"Oh, c'mon Dean! Why do you think that I come running every time you and Sam call me? Why do you think I come to you when things are bad? You're a hero," she said. She stopped walking and looked at him. He stopped walking too. "I know what you think of yourself, Dean. You think you're a monster, you think you're doomed to nothing but badness. So maybe you're not a superhero with powers like the rest of us…"

"Awesome, thanks," he interrupted.

" _But_ you work your ass off to make this a better Earth. And that's something to be proud of, and Buffy sees that. That's why she likes you," she finished ignoring him.

"Buffy dates vampires, I'm not sure I want to fall into that category. Besides, I don't really _date_ anyway," Dean said.

"Bitch, please. Spike was a weirdo, even when he didn't have his soul. And from what Willow tells me about Angel, it's the same deal. Buffy may have a type, but it's not vampires. It's guys who take the crappy hand that life had dealt them and turns it into something worthwhile. Angel and Spike were hero's. And so are you," Charlie said proudly.

"Yea, that's me, Dean Winchester, hero," he said sarcastically.

"Shut up," she said, shaking her head at him. They started walking again, not saying anything more. Night had fallen and the moon was very bright, being almost full. They both suddenly stopped, having heard something moving in the trees nearby. Not sure what it was, they both stared into the trees.

"What do you suppose?" Charlie asked quietly.

"May have been nothing…" Dean answered.

"Or it may have been something," Charlie finished. "Werewolf? It is the day before the full moon."

"Maybe, but werewolves don't generally lurk. They see their prey and they attack," Dean said thoughtfully. "No, if there's something there, it's something else."

"Do you smell that?" Charlie asked sniffing the air.

"Cigarettes," Dean realized.

"Oh, for reals? Damnit Spike, get out here and stop creeping," Charlie shouted into the woods.

"Aren't you two a bit jumpy?" Spike smirked stepping out of the trees.

"What are you doing out here?" Dean asked.

"What are _you_?" Spike shot back.

"We were just out for a walk," Charlie said.

"The house is a little cramped," Dean added.

"You're living there?" Spike asked, surprised. Seemingly unable to stop himself, he added, "so, you and Buffy?"

"What? No. Why? Did Buffy say something to you?" Dean asked, surprised.

Spike raised an eyebrow, "No, but her scent was on you."

"Her…dude, gross. I feel violated," Dean said shuddering. Charlie laughed.

"Spike, why are you hanging out around here? Keeping an eye on Buffy like a creeper?" Charlie asked.

Spike narrowed his eyes and pulled on his cigarette. The light from the end illuminated his pale face and bleached hair. "You know what? Sod off, wankers," and he turned around and walked back into the trees. His long coat billowing out behind him as a light breeze swept over them. Charlie and Dean stared after him. After a minute, Charlie shrugged and suggested they head back to the house.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – Highway to Hell**

Dean spent the rest of the night wandering around the house. First, he wandered into the study, picked up a book at random and started to read. He got bored quickly though, and then went outside to watch some of the younger slayers being trained on how to use a crossbow. They let him shoot once or twice, which was fun to Dean, who usually only stuck with guns. Then he went back to his room where he resisted the urge to cover the Johnny Depp poster on the wall.

He had the door open and when Charlie walked by she found him staring at it. "Uh, Dean? Johnny giving you some trouble?" she asked, trying hard not to laugh.

Without taking his eyes off the poster, he started swaying left and right in front of it, "Everywhere I go, his eyes follow me…"

"Wow," Charlie said, and without another word she left the room.

It was late in the evening by now, and Dean was restless. He knew he should sleep, but he couldn't, so he went back to the study. Xander was on duty monitoring Sam. Everyone else had gone to bed already. "Hey, I'll take over if you wanna go to bed," Dean said to him. Xander, who had been playing a Spider-man game on a 3DS, paused the game and looked up at him.

"Thanks, I've been super bored. Your brother's asleep," Xander said. He stood up, took the transmitter out of his ear, handed it to Dean, and left the room, leaving Dean alone.

"Awesome," Dean said quietly to himself as he sat down, putting the transmitter in his own ear.

"Hey Dean," came Sam's voice from his ear.

"I thought you were asleep?" Dean asked.

"Nah, tried to, but it's hard to sleep in this place. Brian's doing well though. He feel asleep over an hour ago," Sam said.

"You ready to get out of there tomorrow?" Dean asked.

"Yea, I'll be happy when I can say goodbye to this place. I assume the weapons are all set?" Sam asked.

"Yup. I think we're ready to go. Just a matter of time at this point. How's the demon treating you?" Dean said.

"Not too bad all things considered. It's vague on what it's going to do with us, I keep asking it what it wants, but it just keeps hitting me in the stomach," he answered.

"You're provoking him," Dean said.

"Yea, but what else am I going to do with my time. It's not like I haven't been tortured before. Comparatively, this is tame," Sam pointed out.

"True, but why poke the bear?"

"I don't know. Because it's funny?" Sam suggested. Dean could practically hear him shrugging.

"Why don't you try to go to bed?" Dean proposed.

"I suppose you're right. I'll see you tomorrow, Dean," Sam said.

"Goodnight, Sammy."

The next morning found the group in the study. Dean was telling them how Sam had managed to get some sleep and the night was uneventful. The first team of slayers had already left for watch duty. They had nothing to report so far. Unsure what to do with themselves, most of them meandered around the house for most of the day. Willow and Charlie decided to go see an early movie. Dawn and Xander decided to join them. Dean had managed to get a few hours of sleep that morning, at Buffy's suggestion, when she realized that he'd been up all night.

After lunch, when the group left for the movie, Faith invited Dean to a fight again. He agreed, and was a little more prepared this time when she kicked his ass. He managed to stay on his feet for almost 10 minutes before she completely took him out. They walked back upstairs to the kitchen together; Dean wasn't bleeding this time. Buffy was standing in the kitchen when she saw them coming back upstairs. Dean thought he saw her face flush a little, but when he blinked and looked again, he couldn't see it. Faith walked over to Buffy and said something to her so quietly that Dean couldn't make it out. Whatever it was though, Buffy looked angry and scowled at Faith, who grinned back at Dean. He was extremely curious about what she had said, but figured it better not to ask. Faith went back upstairs to shower while Dean grabbed one of the sandwiches that Andrew had laid out for lunch.

"You and Faith seem to be getting along," Buffy said, watching him. He shrugged and continued eating. "So what are your plans after this is all over?" she asked.

"Help out Michael with his demon problem. Put the spirits of those children to rest, if we can. After that, we'll probably head back to the bunker and get Sam to rest for a few days," Dean said. Buffy nodded. "How 'bout you?" he asked through a mouthful of turkey and cheese.

Buffy shrugged, "usual, I guess. Train some newbies, patrol, whatevs." They both looked at each other for a minute, not sure of anything else to say. Finally, Buffy said she was going to go for a walk. Unsure what to do with himself, he went back to the study to find Giles talking to Sam over the transmitter. Apparently, they were swapping stories.

As he walked into the room, Dean heard Sam laughing over the computer, "and he screamed. Really high pitched, like a banshee, and then he goes, 'that was scary!'" Giles laughed briefly before he saw Dean in the room watching him. His grin quickly turned into a forced frown. He was clearly trying hard not to laugh at him.

"Good afternoon, Dean," he said cordially.

"Oh damn," Sam said. "He heard that, didn't he?"

"I'm afraid so," Giles said.

"Funny, Sammy," Dean said picking up one of the extra transmitters and putting it into his ear. "Maybe I can tell him about the time you boned a demon. Or a werewolf. Or a kitsune –"

"Hey, I never slept with Amy!" Sam protested. Giles took off his glasses and began to furiously clean them.

"Or that hippie chick right after I'd been kidnapped. Or Becky." Dean finished.

"Never slept with Becky either! And I didn't have a soul when I was with the hippie check," Sam countered.

"That's an impressive rap sheet," came Faith's voice from the doorway. "Even by my standards." Dean began laughing at the look on her face.

"Shut up, Assbutt," said Sam, who hadn't heard Faith.

"Ok, Cass," Dean replied, still laughing.

Giles put his glasses back on and turned to Faith, "have the girls on the second shift checked in yet?"

Faith, who was grinning at the computer that represented Sam, said, "Yea. That's why I came down. They said it's all good. Still no sign of the demon." Giles nodded, and Faith turned and left the room, winking at Dean as she went.

The rest of the afternoon proceeded uneventfully. Willow, Charlie, Dawn and Xander had returned from the movie, just as the sun was starting to set. The occupants of the house were starting to become restless as sky turned from orange to violet. Andrew had set out an assortment of small leftover dishes for people to munch on for dinner, but not enough to allow anyone to get full, in case they had to fight soon. They had originally planned to leave just before dusk with the assumption that the demon would have already entered the warehouse. However, they couldn't leave without confirmation of this, and they all waited eagerly to hear from the slayers watching the warehouse. A little after 7, they finally heard from the 3rd shift. They had noticed someone walking into the warehouse, but couldn't make much out other than a figure. A few minutes later, they heard Sam talking to them quickly saying that the door to their cell was being opened. Everyone split into their designated groups and drove quickly to the warehouse. After much protesting, Andrew was left at the house as a "guard."

Xander, Charlie, Giles, and a slayer named Denise quickly got out of their cars and began to walk the outside of the warehouse. They were to each pay particular attention to the exits. Dawn took off in the direction of one of the houses the shift Slayers had been holding up in. She had been given a transmitter before she left. Dean began to get the feeling that he was being watched again, but then reminded himself that he _was_ being watched, by quite a few people monitoring the warehouse on their orders. Willow handed Buffy, Dean, and Faith each a hexbag to hang around their necks when they got out of the car. Dean, Buffy, and Faith already had the weapon's in their hands. Giles had tucked his into his belt for safe keeping as he patrolled the building.

The main group cautiously approached the main entrance, each casting nervous looks around them as they went. Willow had cast a spell to silence their footsteps, which creeped Dean out. Willow opened the door silently using magick, and Dean and Faith both quickly entered, flanking the door, with Buffy and Willow following closely behind. They crept to the office area and slid inside. There were old desks, and a few broken phones lying on the floor. If there had ever been computers here, they had long since been removed or stolen. There was more graffiti on the walls in here, and it looked as though it had had squatters living here some time ago. They made their way through the office area without saying anything. When they came to a second set of doors, they cautiously looked out at the area where the ritual should be taking place. They didn't see anything. However, Dean and Buffy, who were wearing the transmitters could hear heavy breathing. Dean wasn't sure if this was coming from Sam or from one of the others who was wearing one.

They knelt on the ground, each keeping an eye out into the warehouse, waiting expectantly for something to happen. They had waited for almost 20 minutes, when Dawn's voice reached their ears.

"Has anything happened yet? It's so quiet," she said.

"No, nothing yet," Buffy quickly whispered. Faith and Willow looked curiously at her. She pointed at her ear in response. Suddenly, Faith surreptitiously pointed toward the far corner of the warehouse, where they knew the hatch to the basement was. It had opened silently, and a figure was climbing out of it, lifting two large objects over its shoulders. They watched as it pulled itself out of the hatch, and readjust the loads it was carrying. They could hear it breathing heavily, as it slowly made its way toward them. Faith took this as her cue to quietly cross back to the other side of the office so as to swing around the demon from the right. Dean and Willow followed her, as they planned to come at it from behind. Buffy stayed behind keeping a close eye on the Demon.

Willow, Dean, and Faith all ducked quietly down as they crept through the other door by the entrance. Dean and Willow peered around the corner, to where they could see the demon still carrying his loads, which Dean could now see was Sam and the kid. They both appeared to be unconscious. Faith hurried along the far wall, making sure to keep both her eyes on the demon. Dean was impressed how she could move so quickly without making any noise, then he remembered that Willow's silencing footstep spell was still active. He could see Faith in his peripherals quickly passing the demon and moving against the last wall, barely visible in the dim light. She had stopped when she thought that he might have seen her, but he kept moving with determination. She finally crouched down behind an overturned workbench along the wall. Dean could just see her head appearing over the top of it as she watched the demon.

The demon was tall, almost 7 feet in height and had thick, pale skin. He had large, pointed ears that rose above his short hair, which stuck out of his head at odd angles. He was wearing what appeared to be a regular pair of jeans, far too short for him, and a very tight t-shirt, which was being pulled by the hard muscles on his chest. His feet were bare. His fingers and toes were long and had sharp claws. His face was pointed and had a strange look, as though his features were slightly distorted. They seemed, to Dean, to be almost shimmering, like they had a mist around them.

"I think the demon is about the start the ritual," Dean heard Buffy whisper through the transmitter. Everyone fell even more silent than before after this. He knew that everyone was preparing themselves for the coming fight. Dean watched the demon as he stopped in approximately the exact place that Willow had pointed out to them on the blueprints. He put Sam and Brian down, followed by a large linen bag he had also been carrying, which surprised Dean who hadn't noticed it before. He opened the bag and pulled out what was clearly a large mortar and pestle. He reached into the bag again and pulled out a skull, and then another skull, and another. Dean was sickened watching the skulls of a dozen children being treated in this way. The demon put them one by one into the mortar; he then began to crush them feverishly. The sounds of the crushed skulls seemed to echo throughout the warehouse, making Dean feel slightly nauseated. He wondered if the others felt the same way.

After several long minutes of grinding the skulls into dust, he reached into his bag again and pulled out a small bottle. He opened the top and poured, what Dean knew must be the holy oil, on top of the crushed skulls. A slight mist seemed to rise from the mortar as a result. He reached into the bag again and pulled out a jar. He removed the lid and groped inside with his fingers. Removing his fist from the jar, he opened it over the mortar, causing the powder in his hand to mix with the mist rising from it, and landing on top of the mixture. The mist swirling about the ingredients was now turning a purplish color.

Suddenly, the building began to shake. _An earthquake, seriously? Now?_ thought Dean, incredulously. He looked around at Willow, who didn't appear to be surprised. She nodded to him, and mouthed the word "apocalypse." Understanding, he turned back to the demon, who seemed completely undisturbed by the shaking around him. Dean noticed a small tear appear on the back of the demon's shirt where, what appeared to be a tiny horn, was poking into the shirt. Dean realized that there were several of these protuberances all over the demon's body, which was causing further strain on the clothes he was wearing. He thought it was strange that the demon was wearing clothes like this at all, but he shook these confusing thoughts out of his mind as the demon reached into the bag for a final time and pulled out a long knife. It appeared to be a simple kitchen knife, which again surprised Dean who expected something more… special. Gratefully, the earthquake stopped at this moment.

Dean could feel his heart begin to beat faster as a troubling thought occurred to him, what if the demon just slit their throats. They hadn't anticipated that. The ritual didn't call for a lot of blood, so they all just assumed that he would just cut their hands or something. Or maybe, Dean had just assumed that, and the others just didn't want to bring it up in case he protested the plan again. What if Buffy and the others weren't expecting Sam and Brian to live, but knew they were necessary sacrifices to save the world? Suddenly, Dean felt especially angry at Buffy as he realized this must have been her plan. She'd been at this long enough that she would have expected that contingency. Dean swore to himself that if that was the case that he would kill her when this was all done. He was only able to stop himself from going after her right now because he knew that the ritual had to be finished one way or the other. Dean realized that Willow was watching him with a concerned look on her face. _She can't hear my thoughts, can she?_ he nervously wondered to himself. What if she could and even now was planning to kill him before he could kill her best friend?

She narrowed her eyes and him and subtly shook her head. What was she trying to tell him? Was she trying to tell him to focus; to pay attention to the matter at hand? He turned back to the demon who was now kneeling over Brian. Dean couldn't see what he was doing, but he had the mortar next to him. After a minute, the demon stood back up, mortar in his hands and brought it over to Sam. Dean couldn't tell what the demon had done to Brian, and if he had slit his throat or not. He was at a much better angle to see what was being done to Sam. His heart began pumping harder as the demon put the mortar down next to his brother and approach him with the knife. Again, Dean could see the shimmering about the demon's face. It was very strange. Dean watched the knife as it was brought closer and closer to Sam's neck. Willow put a hand on his shoulder, probably to stop him from going after the demon now in case he killed his brother. Milliseconds seemed to be hours as the knife was brought closer and closer to Sam. Suddenly, the knife was brought down on Sam's wrist. One of Sam's arms was over his head, the knife cut into Sam's wrist quickly, causing blood to pour from the wound onto the ground. Dean breathed a sigh of relief that it was a horizontal cut on the wrist and not on his neck. The demon dropped the knife on the floor and picked up Sam's bleeding wrist and put the mortar underneath it, so the blood spilled into the mixture.

Unbelievably, when the demon was done collecting the blood, it pulled a small cloth out of its pocket and wrapped Sam's bleeding wrist in it. What was going on? Why would the demon do that? Dean didn't have long to ponder this confusing situation before the demon stood back up, mortar in hand, and began mixing all the ingredients together with the pestle. The mist that had been rising from the mixture had now turned a bright white, almost illuminating the demon. Dean could see Faith in the corner of his eye readjusting her position as she prepared herself to run at the demon when the time came.

He put the mortar down and said in Latin, "Igne inferni, et ignis ardebit." Suddenly, a large fire burst out of the ground, splitting the cement floor of the warehouse. The flames rose over the demon's head, and a dark cloud of smoke rose quickly to the ceiling. Dean stood up, ready to attack, but Willow pulled him back down.

"Not yet!" she whispered urgently.

The demon bent over and picked the mortar up again and threw the mixture into the white center of the fire. The entire fire turned bright white and even more smoke burst from the flames. The building began to shake again. The floor began to split apart and the demon began to chant:

 _Nam triginta annis, duodecim filii requievit_

 _Innoxium sanguinem et sanguinem de damnatis_

 _Aperi ostium into hoc mundo omni damnatio_

As the words fell from the demon's lips, the building began to shake more violently. When he reached the end, he spread his arms wide, and the shaking reached dangerous levels. The fire was burning hotter than anything Dean had ever experienced outside of hell. As one, Willow and Dean sprang up from their hiding place and ran at the demon. Dean could see out of the corner of his eyes Faith and Buffy sprinting at him from their respective hiding places as well. Dean could hear Willow muttering words behind him, but he couldn't make it out. Faith and Buffy both had the weapons in their hands. Dean pulled his out of his belt and continued at the demon. Buffy reached him first. He noticed her for the first time when she was mere feet from him. He dodged her blow and ducked down punching her in the stomach, sending her flying. Dean reached the demon and swung his weapon at his chest, but he dodged this as well and knocked the weapon out of his hands. Faith used the opportunity to kick the demons legs out of under him.

Dean quickly retrieved his weapon as Faith attempted to stab the demon in the chest while he was still on the ground. However, he had been able to roll out of the way just in time and he was back on his feet before Dean had the weapon. Buffy was running back into the fight and her and Faith began a coordinated fight with the demon. Dean had trouble getting a hit in as the three of them were moving so fast, he had trouble even watching what was happening. He found himself getting knocked away from the fight more than once and wasn't even sure it was the demon that did it. After the third time of getting back to his feet, he looked at the fight that was the demon, Buffy, and Faith, and could see nothing but fast moving limbs coming from all directions and hitting all parts of all of their bodies. Dean noticed Willow pulling Brian away from the fire and fight. He decided to help her get him and Sam out of danger before rejoining the fast paced fight. He ran over to Sam and grabbed his legs pulling him away from the fire, fight, and ever shaking walls.

He noticed several dark shapes forming in the heart of the fire, and realized that the longer they took, the more likely it would be that the creatures on the other side of that open barrier would be coming out any minute. He pulled Sam to Willow and slapped his face a few times trying to revive him. He seemed to be out cold.

"I'll take care of them, you help Buffy and Faith!" Willow said quickly. She said a few words in Latin and both Sam and Brian rose into the air, as though on invisible gurneys. He nodded to her and watched her run them out of the building, the door to the entrance opening of its own accord. Looking back at the fight going on behind him, he could see that the shapes in the fire were becoming more distinctive and were starting to move. He ran back to them, just as a creature, the likes of which he'd never seen before emerged from the flames. Buffy and Faith didn't seem to have noticed, as their fight with the demon was becoming more and more brutal. Dean ran at the creature, which had wicked grins on its multiple faces. He pulled out his gun, trying to maintain his balance as the shaking building was becoming more likely to collapse at any moment. He shot the creature in each of its heads, causing it to fall backward into the fire, still grinning. The flames consumed its body, just as another creature, emerged.

"We have to end this now!" Dean yelled to Buffy and Faith. Taking less than a second to look, he saw that Faith had been knocked to the ground and appeared to be unconscious. Dean swore loudly, though over the fight and the earthquake, no one heard him. He shot at the new creature, which appeared to absorb his bullets and kept coming at him. He pulled out his knife, and swung at what he assumed was the creatures head. It didn't seem to have eyes, ears, a nose, or a mouth, so he wasn't entirely sure. It was more blob than anything else, but it moved faster than the last one. His knife made connection with the creature's skin, causing it to burn and rot. Despite having no mouth, it somehow made a terrible sound that caused Dean to have to cover his ears. The creature screamed and slowly melted into the floor. He turned and saw Buffy was now fighting the demon single-handedly. She was stabbing, and punching, and kicking faster than anything that he'd ever seen. He ran to help her, weapon in hand and the demon didn't seem to notice him as he approached, having all of its focus on Buffy. Buffy seemed to be bleeding profusely from a large wound in her arm, but it didn't seem to be slowing her down.

Buffy stabbed and slashed the weapon, barely grazing it. Still not having noticed Dean, he ran up behind it and swung the weapon high, stabbing it in the back. The demon screamed and fell, weapon still in his back. The flames were extinguished almost at once, casting the warehouse into darkness. Dean couldn't see much, as the bright fire was still burned into his eyes, and they hadn't adjusted yet. He could hear the demon breathing heavily as it slowly bled out. The shaking had stopped as well. He ran to Faith and saw that she was starting to stir.

"Wait…" came a haggard voice from behind him.

"What the…!" Buffy almost yelled, watching the demon. Dean turned around and looked at where the demon was laying. But there wasn't a demon there anymore. There was a small woman struggling to breath looking at them desperately. A small puddle of blood was slowly pooling underneath her. She was on her back and looked scared. Her eyes were darting back and forth between Buffy and Dean, who were both staring at her. She slowly tried to sit up, and with a spark of recognition, Dean realized that he knew the woman, but he couldn't remember from where.

"Look, none of this was my… my idea," she said, choking a little trying to get the words out. Dean noticed that Buffy was staring at her with a confused look. Did she recognize her too? "I gave up… hurt…hurting people… centuries ago. I… I don't.. like it… I didn't want…"

Suddenly Dean realized who she was and why he recognized her. He and Buffy had met with her on their first day of investigating.

"You didn't really think that was vegetable oil, did you?" Buffy asked. The woman shook her head and chuckled, which caused her to choke and spit up blood.

"I… had to throw… you off… off my scent," she said. Dean remembered the woman, who had smelled strongly of alcohol at the time, trying to use holy oil in her cooking. He hadn't thought twice about her. "There's another… de… demon. He made… made me. He killed those… those kids. He said… said that if I didn't perform… the ritual… which only my… can perform… that… he'd…"

But what he had threatened her with, they never found out. Her eyes widened and she gasped suddenly, and she was gone. She fell backward into her own blood, and her eyes closed.

"What the hell?" Buffy asked turning to Dean. He shrugged.

"Buffy, what is going on in there?" came Giles voice over the transmitter.

"Is Sam and Brian okay?" asked Dean urgently.

"Yes, they're fine," came Dawn's voice. "Willow has them both here. They're starting to wake up. Willow said that the demon wrapped up their cuts?"

"Yea, there's something strange going on here. The demon… she turned into a woman we met last week and said that none of this was her idea. That she didn't want to do it," Buffy said.

"She turned into a human?" Giles asked. "I've only heard of a couple of breeds of demon with that kind of power, and a Juvecran isn't one of them."

"What could have the kind of power to turn a demon into a human?" Buffy asked. "She said it was another demon."

"What kind of demon could have that power?" came a voice from behind Buffy and Dean. They both spun around as another figure walked into their vision. "Well, a crossroads demon, of course," he said grinning.

 _Those eyes!_ Dean thought suddenly watching the new arrival. They were the same bright eyes he thought he had imagined seeing the day before in the woods. "You were watching me yesterday behind that hotel, weren't you?" Dean asked him.

"Oh yes. I realized that you idiots were hunting me, and when I realized who you were… well, let's just say that I would LOVE to be the one to take down Crowley's little pets," he taunted.

"Of course you work for Crowley!" Dean yelled.

"Oh no, not at all! This was all Lucifer's plan. Set in motion 30 years ago. This ritual was supposed to open all doors to hell… including Lucifer's cage. Obviously, Crowley wouldn't want his throne taken away; in fact, when he rose to power, he banned all rituals like this, not that I was going to listen to him. Besides, that was the beauty of this ritual, even if it was never finished, Lucifer may not have been released, but at least the Earth would still be destroyed. Not quite a win-win, but close enough for me." His grin widened and Dean realized that he recognized this man too.

"How do I know you?" he asked.

The demon ignored Dean and looked down at the woman. "Shame, I was really looking forward to Lucifer's rise and the end of this annoying little planet. Guess I'll have to settle for killing you."

And without warning, Buffy, Dean and Faith, who was only half conscious, were all thrown against the wall, which had been scorched from the hell fire. It had cooled down, faster than it should have, but still not enough to not burn them. Dean could feel the skin on his exposed arms being scorched. Faith had been knocked back unconscious.

"What is going on in there?" yelled Dawn in his ear. Dean couldn't answer, it looked like the demon could actually stop him from talking too.

Just as suddenly as they had been thrown, they fell back to the floor. Another hidden figure jumped out of the shadows and had tackled the demon. All Dean could see when he managed to straighten back up was a bright yellow-white head of slicked-back hair. Spike. He was pounding into the demon with all the ferocity of an animal… or a vampire, Dean realized. A bright light suddenly illuminated the whole warehouse and Dean had to blink several times before he could see again. Willow had entered the building.

He looked down at the struggling pair that was Spike and the demon. Spike had him pinned and was repeatedly punching him in the gut, and occasionally in the face. "That's enough, Spike! Kill him already," Buffy yelled. She threw him a knife – _my knife!_ Dean realized. She had taken the knife he'd gotten from Ruby at some point. When did that happen and how did he not notice? He'd had it on him when he entered the warehouse. It must have fallen to the floor at some point during the fight and she'd picked it up. Or she'd taken it right off him. Oh, yea, he was going to kill her when this was all over. _No one steals from me._

Spike caught the knife and raised it over his head, ready to jam it into the demon's skull when the light from Willow's spell lit up the demon's face, and Dean got a good look at it for the first time.

"WAIT!" Dean screamed and he dove at Spike knocking him off the demon, saving his life.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 – A Good Mark for the Future**

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Spike yelled at him.

"Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, et secta diabolica, Ergo draco maledicte et section. Ergo draco maledicte et legio secta diabolica Ut Ecclésiam tuam secúra tibi fácias servire libertáte, te rogámus, audi nos," Dean said as fast as he could.

Immediately, a pillar of black smoke erupted from the demon's mouth. The man that was left in his wake collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily. Spike and Buffy watched with open jaws as Dean rushed to him.

"Are you okay, Mark?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you," he breathed.

"Uh… Dean?" Buffy asked.

"This is Mark. Michael's husband!" Dean said, looking up at her. Comprehension dawned on her face.

"Oh my god!" she said as she rushed forward to help. Mark had passed out and Dean was wiping away some of the blood on his face to make sure that the cuts there weren't too serious. Buffy picked him up. "Go get Faith," she instructed. Dean ran over to Faith who was still out cold against the wall. Dean picked her up easily and threw her over his shoulder. He then followed Buffy back to the entrance where she was waiting with Mark. Spike watched them, unsure of what to do. Finally, he decided to follow them. The group that had been patrolling the outside of the warehouse came running to them when they saw them.

"What happened?" Xander asked.

"Later," Buffy said. They carried Mark and Faith to the cars and laid them down in the backseat. As Dean straightened back up, he saw Sam walking toward him, looking perfectly healthy.

"Good work," he said as a greeting. Dean noticed that Brian and Willow were close behind him.

"Thanks," Dean said. "Someone had to do the work, since you were too busy napping."

"Hey, that demon had me under a sleeping spell… or something. I don't know. But Willow was able to revive me and Brian," Sam said defensively.

"Are you both okay?" Buffy asked, joining the conversation.

"Have a cut on the wrist, but other than that, couldn't be better. Well, I could do with some real food, but…" Sam said.

"Right, Brian, I'll take you home," Xander said. Willow decided to go with them to keep an eye on him until he was back with his mother. Xander, Willow, Brian and a few others climbed into Xander's car and took off. Dawn, Giles, and the other slayers who'd been watching the warehouse took Faith and Mark back to the house. They were going to attempt to revive them and maybe heal some of their injuries if at all possible. Buffy, Dean, and Sam decided to go grab Michael and bring him to the house to meet with his husband.

They drove in silence for only a couple minutes before they arrived at the motel. Dean led the way to Michael's door and knocked. After a few seconds, the door opened a crack and Michael's eye peered through the gap.

"Dean!" he cried with relief. He closed the door and they heard the latch being removed. The door was then opened all the way and he stepped aside to invite them in. "I was a little nervous, with all the earthquakes and lightening in the last few hours, it felt like the world was coming to an end! It was crazy. I'm glad to see you all are alright. Who are you?" he added, noticing Sam as they stepped inside.

"I'm Sam, Dean's brother," Sam said.

"Oh! Well, welcome! What are you all doing here? I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow, or did you finish your job early?" he asked excitedly.

"Actually, it turns out that our job and yours were part of the same issue," Dean said.

Michael frowned, confused, "What do you mean?"

"We found your husband," Buffy explained. "He was the demon that we had been trying to stop."

"What?!" Michael shrieked. "Oh my god! You didn't kill him, did you? Is he okay? What happened? Can I see him?"

"Yes, you can see him," Dean said. Michael moved immediately to the door. "Just a warning, though, he's a little banged up. He's at Buffy's house being taken care of now. We can take you to him, if you want."

"Yes, yes! What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Michael said quickly. He ushered them out of the room and they all climbed into the Impala. Michael was tapping nervously on the seat, but no one said anything. Before long, they had arrived at the house and Michael was already at the front door before the rest of them had finished climbing out of the Impala. He waited impatiently for them and clucked his tongue as Buffy opened the door. Buffy led them to a small room that Dean hadn't been in before now. He realized that it was like a small doctor's office, filled with medical supplies. There were three beds along one wall, only one of which was unoccupied. Faith was sitting up in the middle one, looking annoyed. She scowled at them as they walked in. Giles, Dawn, and Willow were standing on either side of the last bed. Willow was chanting quietly in Latin as Dawn was applying cream to some of Mark's cuts. He was still unconscious.

Michael ran over to him the moment he saw him, and unceremoniously pushed Giles out of the way. He grasped Mark's hand and began to whisper his name. Buffy, Dean, and Sam joined Giles watching the group at the bed.

"Is he going to be okay?" Sam asked Giles.

"Physically, he should be fine. We didn't find any serious injuries that were life threatening. Mentally, though… He played host to a particularly vicious demon for the last year or more. Those memories are not going to be pleasant," Giles said quietly. They stood quietly for several minutes as Willow continued to chant. Michael had taken the ointment from Dawn and was now applying the cream to several cuts on his arms.

"Mark!" Michael said suddenly. Everyone looked up quickly to see that Mark's eyelids had begun to flutter. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around.

"Mike?" came his weak voice.

"Oh, thank god!" Michael said hugging his husband tightly. Mark coughed as he did so, prompting Michael to release him quickly. "Sorry," he said.

"It's ok," Mark said, smiling. "It's good to see you."

"C'mon, let's let them be alone," Dawn said pointedly to the others. Everyone but Willow and Faith left the room. Faith tried to leave, but Willow stopped her saying that she still needed to rest. Willow proceeded to continue chanting quietly over Mark, while they reunited.

The group made their way to the study, where they found Xander, Andrew, and Charlie, reviewing what had happened. Andrew offered them all sandwiches when the entered, which Sam disappointedly refused. He left for several minutes to go get something else from the kitchen.

"How'd it go with Brian?" Buffy asked.

"Fine," Xander said. "He and his mother were thrilled for him to be home. He agreed that he wouldn't tell her the truth about what happened. I think he didn't want to freak her out. He told her that he had been kidnapped by a bunch on unknown people and then released. He seemed to be trying to convince her that it was all a prank and he was treated fine. Don't think she bought it though, but was too happy to have him home to worry all that much… yet."

"He was a tough kid," Sam said, reentering the room with a large bowl of pasta in his hands. "He'll be okay."

They spent the rest of the evening relaxing, occasionally discussing the fight, but for the most part just enjoying the down time. Willow came in the room close to midnight and announced that she'd finished with Mark for tonight, and that Michael would be staying with him until he's healed enough to leave. Faith had followed Willow from the medical room, refusing to stay there any longer. Willow said that Mark was surprisingly resilient for what he had been through. He understood that the things that the demon had done were not his fault, and he shouldn't feel guilty about them. He also wanted Dean to know that the place in the woods that he had found was the sacrificial stone where the demon had killed the children all those years ago. This is probably why it made him feel so off at the time. The demon had been watching him through the trees as he examined the rock. Dean wasn't sure whether he was relieved that the creepy feelings he had experienced when he found that stone were valid, or whether he was more creeped out at what the stone table had been used for.

While they were talking, Castiel suddenly appeared on the couch, sitting next to Dean. Several people gasped, but no one screamed this time. Dean looked at him in surprise, "kinda late for a visit, eh Cass?"

"How did you do it, Dean?" Cass asked in his gruff voice.

"Do what?"

"The Mark! How did you get rid of the Mark?" he asked urgently. Surprised, Dean rolled up the sleeve on his right arm. Sure enough, the Mark of Cain was gone. Sam stood up to get a better look, a look of shock on his face.

"You didn't tell me you lost the Mark!" Sam almost yelled at Dean.

"I didn't know…" Dean said quietly, staring at the blank skin on his arm. "How did this happen?" he asked Cass.

"I asked you that," Cass responded, annoyed.

"I think I can answer that," came Willow's voice from the other side of the room. She was sitting at a desk with a small scroll unrolled in front of her. She was reading the scroll quickly with a smile on her face. "The Mark of Cain, right?" Every face in the room turned to her.

She began writing something in the air with her finger and mouthing something that no one could interpret. They all watched her for several minutes as she did this.

"Yup, it's right here," she said, finally looking up.

"What is that?" Cass asked suspiciously. "We've been scouring the Earth for any sign of a way to rid Dean of the Mark. We even asked the scribe of God, and Cain, himself. And you happen to have the answer here?" Several pairs of eyebrows were raised in Willow's direction.

"Well you may have asked Metatron and Cain, but did anyone bother to ask Abel?" Willow asked.

There was silence at this.

Willow sighed as though explaining 2 plus 2 equals 4 to Cordelia. "The Mark of Cain. It was given to him after he killed his brother, the ultimate betrayal. But Abel, who had been seduced by Lucifer realized after his death what his brother had done for him. He sent the answer of how to rid oneself of the Mark back to Earth once he found it out. He had hoped that his brother would find it and rid himself of it. There are two ways that one can rid oneself of the Mark," Willow explained to the group, who was listening raptly.

"The first way would be to save one's sibling from the fate of falling prey to Lucifer. Cain obviously couldn't do that since his brother was already dead. The second way would be to 'prevent the death of a tortured soul and save him from ultimate corruption.'" Willow looked up at them all with a grin on her face.

"What the hell does that mean?" Dean asked completely uncomprehending. Almost everyone in the room shrugged at him, as confused as he was. Giles, Cass, and Sam, however, all nodded and grinned at him.

"Mark!" Sam said.

"Yes, how did I get rid of it?" Dean asked again.

"No, Mark – Michael's husband. You stopped Spike from killing him, a 'tortured soul,' and then when you exorcised the demon out of him, you saved him from 'ultimate corruption.' Essentially, saving him from becoming a demon himself," Sam smiled at him.

"Apparently, to do what you did this evening, while still possessing the Mark of Cain, took extreme strength of will. Saving anyone goes against the very nature of the Mark. The Mark fought you on saving him and yet you did it without hesitation when you realized who the demon was possessing. I don't think you realize how unlikely it was for you to do what you did," Willow explained.

Dean looked down at his arm again and realized for the first time that he didn't have the little voice in his head telling him to kill. He didn't have the overwhelming urge to destroy. He felt free for the first time in a long time, and as he realized all this, his face split into a grin. His eyes found Sam's and they nodded at each other, both glad to finally be rid of the monstrous thing.

"Well, congratulations, Dean. This is wonderful news," Cass said in his deep voice. He turned to Willow, "Do you mind if I borrow that? I would greatly like to study it. I will, of course, return it to you once I'm finished."

Willow hesitated, glancing at Giles, who nodded. She handed over the scroll and Cass vanished again. There was silence in his wake, but Dean felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders, and he thought maybe he might actually get some sleep tonight. He sat back down and talk slowly started to break out. He didn't listen to any of the conversations, but enjoyed the sensation of being himself again.

Around 1 in the morning, when people were finally starting to go to bed, Sam stayed behind to spar with Faith, both of whom said that they had gotten enough sleep to last them a while. Dean raised his eyebrows at his brother but said nothing. He went back to his room and collapsed on the bed without changing, grateful that this job was over. He was just about to fall asleep when a knock came on the door. Guessing that it was Sam, he opened the door without a word and was surprised to find Buffy there. She seemed slightly surprised to find herself at his door too, because she stared at him for a minute before saying, "Sorry, can I come in?"

He stood aside to let her in and closed the door behind her. "What's going on?" he asked with raised eyebrows. He remembered the last time she had arrived at his room unannounced.

"I wanted to apologize for the way I've been treating you," she said.

"Have you been drinking again?" he asked her suspiciously.

"No!" she said defiantly. "It's just… it's been pointed out to me, that I've been treating you unfairly after… what happened…" she turned slightly red.

"Who pointed out to you?" Dean asked curiously.

Buffy grumbled, "multiple people."

"So, the big secret's not so big?" he said amused.

"Apparently, a lot of people realized what was happening. Faith and Willow, in particular, were adamant that I come apologize," she said.

"You don't usually have one-night-stands, do you?" Dean asked bluntly.

"No! Anyway, I've apologized and now I'm going to go," she said without looking him in the eye.

"Buffy," Dean said as she grabbed the door handle. She froze, her hand on the knob. "It doesn't have to be just one night," he finished.

She turned and saw his face, which had broken into a grin. She couldn't help it, she grinned too as she removed her hand from the knob, and instead locked the door.

 **THE END**

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed this story as I really enjoyed writing it. I would love to hear your thoughts on it in some reviews :-) let me know if you think if something seemed off, or any loose ends didn't get tied up, or if any of the characters seemed OOC at all. I will admit that I wrote this a few years ago when Season 10 of Supernatural was still airing, hence the timeline, and some of the plot points from the Buffy Characters came from the comics, if you didn't already realize this.**

 **Even though I'm a huge Spike/Buffy fan, I also love the idea of Buffy and Dean, in case you couldn't tell - I just think they would be ridiculously cute together, albeit a little broken but that comes with the territory.**

 **I've been really enjoying writing lately, so reviews would be welcome as they help me with my writing so I know what I'm doing right and what could use some improvement. Thanks for reading!**


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